Tears to rain
by Kurisuta Tenchi
Summary: When Sakura's father dies when she is eight, she abandons her plans to go to camp ever again, even though Sasuke is there. When she gets a letter from her father on fifth grade graduation, everything changes.
1. Chapter 1: Summer camp

Tears to rain

Hey it's Kurisuta! Woot! Anyway, this is my first story I hope you love it! Anyone that knows me will tell you I'm very imaginative and love stories. I decided to do a Naruto one. I will try to update more than e-va!

Note: I do not own Naruto!!

**Pairings:(Major pairings) SasXSak, NaruXHina, TenTenXNeji, (Minor pairings) TemXShi, InoXSai**

Anyway, on with the story!

--0--

Screaming and shouting always shouting, loud taps on the pavement and a gunshot.

That was all I heard that night, all I hear from that day on. Maybe I'm just obsessed, who knows? Because, who knows me? Nobody that's who, because for Sakura Haruno it was only the darkness, and that would be all she would ever see…for now.

"Sakura! Sakura it's time for school!"

Sakura sat up violently in her bed, her whole body was covered in sweat. Immediately she felt her arms and legs shaking. That dream terrified her, every time she went to sleep Sakura felt vulnerable to her dreams. The only thing that seemed to get it off her mind was studying to all ours of the night. Though today, she was going to graduate from her elementary school and some dream was not going to stand in her way. Sakura noticed a letter on her desk, she ignored it. It was just reminder of the past, she was never going to that place ever again.

"Sakura!" yelled her mother yelled, clearly irritated.

"Coming mom!" Sakura yelled as she quickly jumped out of bed and shot off to the bathroom. She smiled as she saw herself in the mirror; her beautiful long hair was still intact despite the sweat. She loved her hair; it always reminded her of a certain boy at her school.

"Sasuke." She said lovingly to herself, she clasped her hands above her heat as she thought about him. She had been in love with Sasuke ever since she had entered elementary school. Every girl sighed even at the thought of him. He even had his own fanclub which was rare for her school. Konoha elementary school was medium in size, it had great teachers, and it had variety. Her teacher was Iruka, he was a great teacher and gave little amount of homework. Which sometimes made Sakura little peeved, she liked homework, it got her mind off 'other things.'

Sakura quickly showered to get the sweat off, she hated being sticky and gross in the morning. She used her favorite Sakura Blossom shampoo in her hair and then got out, brushed her teeth extra long. Hello, graduation! You have to look nice for that!

I also get to see Sasuke today!!

Sakura jumped to her bedroom and pulled on some clothes, her red zip up shirt with a red circle on the back, and her black shirt with her long red skirt that had slits down both sides. She pulled on her red and white tennis shoes to complete her look then ran to the bathroom again.

"Where is my hair brush!" she cried in dismay, she hadn't been able to find it for a few days. Sakura didn't know why, she was always so organized it should have been in her drawer in the counter by the toilet. She shouted her torture and ran to her mother's room. Sakura raced to her mother's bathroom and grabbed her mom's brush. While running downstairs she heard her mom yell once again,

"Sakura! It's time for school! Get up! Don't make me come up there!"

"I'm coming mom cha!!" Sakura finally get to the bottom of the stairs and ran for the kitchen.

"Finally, I didn't think you were going to get up." Said her mother pleasantly as Sakura sat down at the table.

Sakura thought her mother was beautiful; she had long red hair with a yellow ribbon and a strawberry button on it. Today, she wore a no sleeved yellow shirt that went down to her waist, it also had a strawberry on it, but it was on the chest part of the shirt. On her legs she wore a long, plain, light red skirt with shinny red flats. Sakura was also proud to have her mothers green eyes.

"Now Sakura, are you sure you have everything? Books, pencils, erasers-"

"Mom, calm down. I'm graduating, this isn't another school day." Said Sakura a little irritated.

"Oh! I keep forgetting, oh you're getting so big! I can't believe my baby is graduating from the fifth grade!" said her mom sweetly setting a plate of eggs in front of her daughter.

"Yeah, I'm so excited! I'll soon be in middle school!"

"Are you going to see Sasuke-kun today?"

"Mom!!" yelled a blushing Sakura; she waved her arms around to show her frustration. That was then her inner personality decided to speak. Though, only in her mind,

"CHA, STOP EMBRASSING ME MOM!!"

Sakura glared at her mom ruefully as her mother giggled, she always knew what Sakura's reaction would be.

"Why don't you just tell him you like him dear?"

"Are you kidding mom?! He's the most popular guy in the fifth grade! I can't just walk up to him and say 'Sasuke I love you will you date me?' no way mom!" Sakura crossed her arms and made a low growl noise.

"Don't growl at me Sakura, it's not lady-like." Said her mother calmly, she placed a glass of orange juice in front of her daughter.

Sakura immediately stopped and blushed; it had always been Sakura's habit to show her feelings a little aggressively.

"Sorry mom." Said Sakura quietly, Sakura picked up her fork and knife daintily and began to eat while her mother set her place at the table.

After Sakura was done, she jumped out of her seat and took her silverware and plate to the sink and rinsed them off. She finished brushing her hair while walking over to her mom and giving her a kiss goodbye, during leaning down to kiss her daughter, Sakura's mom tied Sakura's favorite red ribbon in her daughter's hair. Sakura set the brush down on the table and smiled up at her mother.

"Wouldn't want to forget that hm?" said her mother with a slight smile.

Then, she immediately dashed to the door and grabbed her bright pink back pack, afterwards ran out the door shouting,

"Bye mom I love you, see you today at the assembly!" Sakura heard her mother yell something back but it was deaf on her ears as she ran down the side walk to her school. Sakura lived in a tight neighborhood, everyone hear was nice and watched over her. It also had many trees and beautiful flowers which made good business for the flower shop just down the road which reminded her of her rival, Ino Yamanaka. Her mother ran a flower shop that flourished around springtime since Konoha had several different kinds of beautiful flowers.

"Speak of the devil." Sakura murmured as she saw her blonde haired rival also running to school. Ino looked at the peak of perfection in her wardrobe, she was wearing a no sleeved purple shirt that showed some mid-drift, but she had a white tank top under that. On the bottom she wore a matching purple skirt with slits in both sides like Sakura's only Ino's only went to her knees instead of Sakura's that went all the way to her ankles, she also, like on her top wore white shorts under the skirt. Last but not least, she wore dark blue shoes with white socks.

Ino and Sakura had been competing for Sasuke's attention since kindergarten, though back in kindergarten they had been the best of friends. Each had had short hair back then that changed when Sakura had heard a rumor that Sasuke liked girls with long hair. Around that time Sakura and Ino had started arguing, and then it got so bad they decided not to be friends anymore. They had finally split around second grade and hated each other ever since.

"Well Sakura, seems your ready for school."

Sakura hated that mocking voice.

"You bet Ino-pig."

Yeah, I went there.

"What'd you say billboard brow?!" Ino and Sakura started running beside each other trying to make it to school before the other. Both were so focused on their task and giving each other death glares, they didn't notice they had already neared the school. So when the school wall got nearer, neither noticed until it was too late.

BAM!

Sakura and Ino groaned and rubbed their heads with their hands. Both could hear laughter coming from behind them and knew that most of the kids in the schools courtyard had seen their little mishap with direction. Both glared at each other then got up sticking their noses in the air. Sakura would not let that Ino-pig brat get the best of her, no ma'am! Both walked into the building and seated themselves in their normal chairs, making sure not to look in each others direction. That was rather easy for Sakura because of the way the classroom was situated. The bottom row was on the ground of the classroom, the rest of the seats slanted upward stacking on each other.

Sakura finally calmed herself and then stared at the one seat every girl was looking at and what every boy envied. Sasuke Uchiha was sitting quietly, his hands folded under chin. His eyes seemed to not be focused on anything, just staring ahead maybe deep in thought or not thinking at all. It didn't matter to all of the girls in the classroom, the fact he was in the room was enough for them. His outfit was flawless, a blue shirt with a red and white fan on the back and tan knee-length shorts. On his feet we wore dark blue tennis shoes with white socks. (Ooc:Shoes are a little similar to Ino's out fit huh? )

Sakura sighed along with the other girls in the room, feeling the themselves get lost in his very figure. After all, he was thin, had a strong chin, and had fierce onyx eyes that seemed to just freeze you still. He was always so cool; every boy in class envied him. Well, there were some exceptions, but they didn't matter because Sasuke is Sasuke!

All the girls snapped out of it when their teacher walked in the room, Iruka.

"Good morning class!" he said cheerfully, he was always happy to see us, no one ever knew why. "Today is the day you take your final test and graduate from this class! I believe in all of you and-"

"Sorry I'm late!" sounded a rather loud and annoying voice from the corner of the room where the front door stood. Everyone knew who it was,

"Naruto! You're late again!? Last day of school and you're late?!" yelled Iruka when Naruto ran down the steps beside the seats and stood in front of Iruka. The boy looked horrible, like he had just stepped out of a mud puddle to Sakura. He had a large orange jacket on the top of his body and orange pants on bottom, on his feet he wore blue sneakers. The most unruly thing he wore though, was a pair of goggles from lord only knows where. His face was marred with signs of being in a fight of some kind, his hands were scratched and he had minor cuts with dry blood. Obviously, the fight had taken place maybe five minutes ago.

"Sorry Sensei, I had a little trouble getting here!" laughed Naruto nervously as he rubbed his neck.

"Trouble getting…" Iruka stopped and gave an understanding smile. He patted Naruto's head and sent him off to the nurse with the jerk of his head. No one knew why Iruka went easy on Naruto, maybe it was because he was an orphan, or maybe it was because he actually liked the kid. No one really knew, but minutes later, Naruto was back and in his seat in a matter of seconds.

"Alright, now we get started, everyone take out your pencils and prepare for the test!" Iruka proclaimed proudly.

Everyone watched as Sakura brought out his pencil, his nimble fingers took the pencil and placed it on the front of his desk. Every fifth grade girl sighed, even Sakura who knew she was paying extra special attention.

"He's so great...Sasuke." sighed Sakura putting her hand under her chin, she daydreamed about him until a paper was put infront of her. Sakura did what she did best, she beat the crud out of that test. Writing all over it, making sure to get enough detail in, every detail she knew. Passing this test was like saving her own life, if she got left behind she couldn't be with Sasuke! Then that Ino-pig would win and Sakura could not, beyond all circumstances, not let that happen.

--0--0--

Every child in the school house ran out cheering, loving that the summer was over, even Sakura. She was swinging her arms in the air crying out,

"CHA! SCHOOLS OUT FOR THE SUMMER CHA!" she immediately stopped when she saw all of the kids staring at her, Sakura blushed and tried to get away from them as fast as possible. While on her retreat from the other kids, she saw Naruto sitting on a swing. He had his goggles off and he looked really sad, his poor little eyes so drained. They looked so...lifeless, and hurt, it made Sakura want to go over and hug him.

"He's so...wait, he wasn't at the assembly." It was true, Sakura hadn't seen him there. She also remembered Iruka not looking to happy about something. Though, the most of what Sakura remembered was how Sasuke went up to recieve his award and how every single girl in the room (cough cough even Sakura cough) had cheered for him. Sasuke had not looked all that interested, he had stepped up, recieved his award and then stepped down without a second thought to anything.

Sakura also remembered her mom screaming in the middle of the gym when she had recieved her award. Sakura had to go over and calm her mom down and keep her from crying. Though the thing she remembered most of all, was how Sasuke had stopped and stared at her and her mother. He seemed almost thoughtful for a few seconds, then he had turned and walked away.

Forgetting all about Naruto, Sakura kept walking imagining that look on Sasuke's face and what it had ment. Maybe she should have her mom around more often...

"Sakura! Sakura baby!"

Or maybe not.

"Over here mom!" Sakura yelled a little exhausted, all the days events had worn her out. When her mom walked over, she leaned on her as they both walked back home.

Sakura's mom had a habbit, she would always get the mail if she went out of the house. It was just thing she did, so when her mom had gone to get the mail and had left her daughter to fend for herself towards the house, Sakura didn't mind. As soon as she got into the house, Sakura collasped on the nearest sofa, needing it's warm comfert to combat the days events.

"Well, I still have the summer to relax and-"

"Sakura!" yelled her mother running into the room,

"What is it mom?!" yelled Sakura irritably, she had had enough for today. Though, when her mother approached more slowly, Sakura sat in a respectful manner and watched her mother sit down beside her. Her mother was covering her mouth and it seemed that some tears were shimmering in her eyes,

"It's from your father." she choaked out suddenly, she closed her eyes and finally the dams in her eyes gave. Streaks went down her mothers face as she handed the letter to Sakura.

"D...Dad?" Sakura asked looking down at the letter. Mom always got upset when anything mentioned dad, so did Sakura. The letter read-

_Dear Sakura,_

_Congratulations on graduating from the fifth grade, you must be so big right now. You probbaly have the beautiful hair your mother has right now too. If you are reading this, I have passed away. I am so sorry for leaving you and your mother alone, but please, don't cry over me. Move on with your life, help your mom not to worry and be a good girl like I know you are. Make many friends or very few and keep them close, love them, laugh with them, and know that I am watching over you and your mother. _

_ Love, Haiku your Dad_

Sakura was in tears by then, she had dropped the letter after reading the last line and had her head buried in her mothers shoulder.

"Your father was always all about surprises..." said Sakura's mother running her fingers through her little girls pink hair. Sakura's mother, Haruki (Ooc:Which means shining brightly) had always loved her husband, they had always gone on walks with Sakura in the park when she had been a little baby, still trying to say her first word. They had had picnics there, also, they used to take Sakura to camp every summer. Konoha camp, every year they met her at the gate and dropped her off with a kiss and hug. He encouraged her to go because he had done it when he had been a child. Every year Sakura came back with little pictures or awards she had won at camp. It had been her favorite time of the year. That had all stopped when he had died. Every years she got an invitation to camp, every year she refused. It was hard on an eight year old to lose their father.

"Well, how about it? Wanna go another summer?" asked Haruki, looking pleasantly down at her daughter. Haruki still had some tears in her eyes, but she managed to look a little put together.

Sakura looked up at her mother and nodded, then she got up and ran up the stairs to her bedroom and grabbed the letter on her desk. When she had it in her hand she ran back down and handed it her mother.

"I wanna go, for him." said Sakura smiling. Haruki hugged her daughter, very proud of her bravery.

"Yes, for him." said Haruki, with a peaceful and pleasant smile on her face as she let her daughter cry a little more.


	2. Chapter 2: Kakashi's failures

**Hello, here's chapter two!! I know you've all been a waiting it's unveiling! Well, I updated all the specifics and tried my best to keep out all of the misspellings! **

**Well, please update and tell me what you think!**

* * *

**Getting Started**

As Sakura approached the gate to the Konoha summer camp, she looked at her mom a little sadly. She had her red zip up shirt with black shorts and red skirt with the slits up the sides; on her back she wore her pink backpack. Behind her, she had her medium sized pink suitcase with her equipment. Which were all the things in Sakura's room.

Knowing that her dad wouldn't be there to kiss her goodbye stopped her from being cheerful, but she looked up at the gates and smiled bravely for her mother.

"Now Sakura, do you have your tooth brush, hair brush, clothes, socks, under-"

"Okay mom, I've got everything." Sakura said quietly, trying not to disturb her mother while she was in thought, it was never wise to disturb a Haruno in thought.

"Okay honey, well you have fun okay? Make lots of friends and take lots of pictures to bring back with you!"

"I will mom, and I'll make sure to bring back some flowers for you." Sakura went on her tiptoes as her mother leaned down to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"Don't let anyone bother you about your beautiful forehead honey, and try not to throw a tantrum okay?"

"Yes mom." Sakura held her mom's hand as she got closer to the gate, then her mom stopped and Sakura turned around and let her hand slip out of her mothers. It had always felt like she was saying goodbye forever, but it wasn't and Sakura put that in her mind as she walked to the front office to check in.

Sakura looked around the entire camp, it hadn't changed a bit. It still had the camps symbol on the check-in office. A giant leaf that looked sort of like an eye if you looked at it long enough, though, you were to just call it the camp symbol, at least that was what all the other camp councilors said.

While Sakura was staring out into space, she bumped into someone, someone with a lot of fluff and yellow hair.

"Hey, sorry are you okay?" it was Naruto; he had a bright orange backpack on with his usual outfit. Naruto smiled with that goofy grin he was famous for as he put a hand on Sakura's shoulder to steady her.

Fiddlesticks.

_How did Naruto get here?! Isn't he supposed to be in summer school?! _The thought of spending a month with Naruto made Sakura rage flare up,

"Watch where you're going Naruto!" yelled Sakura glaring at him; she shrugged his hand off her shoulder while her inner Sakura screamed,

"_**CHA!! YEAH NARUTO WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!!"**_

Naruto seemed a little taken aback by her yelling, but instantly put on a goofy grin again,

"Sorry, so uh, whatcha up to?"

"Nothing!" Sakura walked off in a huff, heading up the steps to the check-in office. When she walked through the door, she saw the same man she had seen years ago. He was old and wrinkly, with a lot of liver spots. He also had a thing with wearing this huge white and red hat with a matching sweat shirt and pants. He looked down at her from past his pipe and smiled,

"Ah, Sakura, good to see you."

"You remember me?"

"Of course I remember you, hard to forget a girl with pink hair." He chuckled at this and then pushed a sign-in slip at her.

"Thanks Sir." Sakura stepped up and grabbed the professional like pen, then, she signed her name in little fancy loops and swirls on the paper.

_Haruno Sakura_

"Well my dear, you haven't changed." The man laughed again and looked down at her from passed his pipe again.

"Neither have you sir."

"Well, enjoy your stay here alright?" he had a way of making you feel good; Mr. Sarutobi had owned this establishment for many years now. He had taken the position after the second land-lord had died of old age. He had had the place for a while, and then passed it down to a young man named Minato Namikaze. He had revitalized the camp by redecorating the cabins and making new exercising area, but the thing he was most known for, was making the camp games. The most famous, was the martial arts tournament. He was the top instructor; he taught many councilors the arts he had learned before becoming the scout master. One day he simply disappeared without a trace along with his wife. After many years of sending out search party after search party, no one had ever found him. The police had presumed him and his wife dead. No one really talked about it anymore, but everyone always said one thing,

That he was the best man you would ever meet.

Sakura finished signing in and grabbed her sheet with her room number on it.

"Number seven huh?" she asked herself, then followed the map to her cabin. When she opened the door, she didn't know whether to scream from frustration or absolute joy. There in her cabin were the most two conflicting forces in her world. Naruto and Sasuke, unloading their bags on their bunks on opposite sides of the room, Naruto was on the top bunk on the left side of the room. While Sasuke was on the right side of the room on the bottom bunk, he looked calm and collected.

_**OF COURSE HE IS CHA!! BECAUSE HE'S SO COOL!!**_

Inner Sakura blushed and then went back into the deep pit in Sakura's mind. Sakura hoped she wouldn't come back out anytime soon.

"Hey Sakura, you're in our cabin? That's so cool!" Sakura bluntly ignored him.

"Hi Sasuke-san!" she bounded over to Sasuke blushing and trying her hardest to look cute. She quickly ran her fingers through her hair in an effort to get it to be tame. Though, this was all in vain, because he didn't answer her,

"Sasuke-san?"

Ignoring.

"Sasuke-san?" This time he turned away from her and sat down on the bed and turned his back to both Naruto and Sakura.

"Oh don't worry about him Sakura! He's just a stick in the mud! Come hang out with me! Oh! Oh! Stay in my bunk! Stay in my bunk!"

Sakura felt a shiver go through her spine and then a pure spike of annoyance as she reeled around to face Naruto,

"Would you shut your trap Naruto! I didn't come here to see you!" Immediately, Sakura regretted yelling at him. His eyes narrowed and he seemed to back off, but he just bucked up again,

"Come on Sakura! Please!"

"No! Go away Naruto!"

"But we're in the same cabin." He seemed confused.

"Then go to the other side of it!" she huffed and threw her stuff on top of Sasuke's bunk.

"I'm sleeping on this bunk." She said snootily and then climbed up the stairs to the top and flopped down on her bed.

"Cool! We both have top bunk! We can stay up late and look at each other during the night!" he kept rambling on and on Sakura almost couldn't take anymore of it.

"Oh yeah! Our councilor is going to be here any minute…" Naruto grabbed a sponge from off the floor of the cabin. It was dirty and gritty, probably from over use.

"What are you doing Naruto?" said Sakura irritated.

"I'm going to see just how good this guy is." He snickered and put the sponge over the door. It was the oldest trick in the book, so immature. (Occ: Hey! I would've done it!)

"Naruto you shouldn't do that!" Sakura whined waving her arms in frustration.

Just as she said that, the door opened more and the sponge fell on the man that walked through.

Total silence enveloped the cabin as the man froze and the sponge fell off his spiky hair. The man was tall, Sakura thought about six feet tall. He looked old, there were wrinkles under his eyes and his hair was silvery white. He had on the usual camp councilor uniform, a blue long-sleeved shirt, blue pants, blue shoes, and the green vest. The odd thing about him was that there was a blue mask over his face that covered up to his nose and hid one eye. On his for head he wore a bandana with the camp symbol on it.

"I'm sorry councilor, I tried to stop him-"started Sakura but he quieted her with the raise of his hand.

"I think I…am not going to like you guys." He said in a monotone voice, which was odd. He sounded rather young for someone who looked about fifty. Naruto looked like he was about to burst out laughing, Sakura looked panicked, and Sasuke was looking over his shoulder with a brooding look. The man sighed and entered the room; there was a chair in the corner which he promptly took a seat in.

"Alright, I want you to all introduce yourselves and your goals that you would like to accomplish here." He sounded rather cheerful for a man that supposedly didn't like them. Sakura was started to think he was nuts. Great, she had to get the psycho councilor.

"Alright, you first." He pointed to Naruto.

"Okay! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! My goal is to be the best scout ever and be a scout master!" He shot his fist up in the air and gave a loud laugh. Great, he was more of an air-head then Sakura thought.

"Okay…you next." He pointed to Sakura.

"Oh, my name is Sakura Haruno and my dream is to marry a certain person…" she glanced at Sasuke who wasn't paying any attention to her whatsoever. Sakura balled her hands into fists and pulled them up by her chest and blushed, she giggled and looked at him again. No response what so freaking ever!

"I also want to be a nurse like my mom!" said Sakura a little sadly; she had hoped Sasuke would just glance at her. Since she was the luckiest girl in the now sixth grade, she had a cabin with Sasuke!

The councilor sighed and turned to Sasuke,

"Alright, you next."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha and my goal is to surpass a certain someone…" his eyes were dark and brooding, he wasn't really looking anywhere, just in thought.

"Hmmm…Okay well, my name is Kakashi Hatake and I will keep my goal to myself since I am not a scout." He crossed his arms and leaned lazily back in the chair, he sighed again.

"You all are failures the way you're going." Sakura's back stiffened, she was not a failure! She was the smartest girl in her class! She could do anything she wanted! How dare he say something like that! She wasn't a failure like Naruto!

"_**CHA! BRING IT ON OLD MAN!!"**_

Sakura looked around and saw Naruto getting angry and Sasuke not even caring.

"Yeah right, I won't be a failure like that Sasuke guy over there!" he pointed dramatically at Sasuke and Sasuke only raised an eyebrow at him.

"Naruto!! Stop bothering Sasuke!" yelled Sakura hitting Naruto over the head. He shrunk back and whimpered,

"Sakura that's not fair…"

"Yes, definitely failures." Kakashi closed his eyes and leaned back, getting rid of his headache at the cause of Sakura's yelling.

"Alright, I want you to sleep well tonight. Tomorrow, we'll be doing an exercise." He stood up and walked toward the door, as he put his hand on the door he turned around and looked at all of them very menacingly.

"By the way, don't eat tomorrow."

_What?! Don't eat?! Are you kidding me?! I have to have my little breakfast, my medium sized lunch, and my small di- _

"You might throw up."

That froze all of Sakura's thoughts; the hamster in the wheel just stopped as Kakashi walked out the door, noisily shutting the door.

"We…might throw up?" asked Naruto quietly to himself as he sat down on the bottom bunk. Even Sasuke seemed to be thinking about this as he stared at the door with mild curiosity on his face. Seconds later, the look faded into darkness again.

"Well, I'm going to sleep, goodnight Sakura!" yelled Naruto as he climbed up to the top bunk of his bed and pulled the covers over his body. Sakura ignored him and turned to Sasuke,

"Good night Sasuke-san!" Once again, he ignored her, Sasuke shoved off his shoes and then pulled the covers over his body, and he made sure to turn away from Sakura.

"Well, goodnight Sasuke-san…" Sakura said a little sadly as she pulled off her shoes and went into the bathroom with her suitcase to change. As she walked into the bathroom, it was just how she remembered it when she had gone here a few years ago. When Sakura looked in the mirror, she saw her hair was a bit frizzy. She immediately pulled out a hairbrush and wetted it under the faucet. As she was brushing her hair, Sakura kept looking herself in the mirror. Her hair was sparkling, her for head was a bit big but she wouldn't let that get her down, even her sense of fashion was flawless, then why…why in the world…was she so sad?

She thought back to Naruto, there was only bone in his head. Nothing going on there, but maybe…no, but he had looked so sad. Now that Sakura was thinking about it, she always saw Naruto so alone. He would sit on that swing or he would run around and try to play with the other kids, but no one would want to play with him. Sakura felt pity for the poor boy, but it went out the window when she started thinking about Sasuke. His entire family had been killed! That was more than Naruto could say! Sasuke was the one who deserved her pity! She would care for Sasuke, not that idiot Naruto who only seemed to be a spoiled brat with ADD.

"That's right, just stay strong Sakura! Don't give in to that little bone-head!" she finished brushing her hair with a final victorious brush of her hair, she then brushed her teeth, cleaned her face, put on her pajamas, and walked out with her suitcase. She headed over to Sasuke's bunk and with much strain, put her suitcase on the top bunk. Sakura climbed slowly so as to not disturb Sasuke, when she reached the top; she set herself down carefully and pulled the covers over her body.

That's when Sakura noticed something new; there was a shelf a little above the bed. (Occ: I have that at my summer camp!!) This delighted her, Sakura quickly dug into her suitcase and pulled out a picture of her mom and dad. As she looked at her dad, Sakura felt tears form in her eyes. She was here when she should be home with her mother, helping comfort her.

_No, I promised to do this for dad. I'll quit after that, but for now, I need to enjoy myself. _

Sakura set the picture on the shelf, saying a silent prayer for her mother. After that, she settled down on the bed and shut her eyes, drifting off to sleep with thoughts of tomorrow and what torture the psycho councilor would bring to the plate.

* * *

**I hope all of you enjoyed my chapter! I probbaly won't write for a few days since the first two chapters was the grand entrance to my story. **

**Please put reviews!! **


	3. Chapter 3: Psycho councilor

Chapter three: Psycho councilor

Hey! Sorry it took so long! Well enjoy!

I do not own Naruto!!

Chapter three: Psycho councilor

"Run Sakura! Run! Please Sakura run!" screamed a male voice, he was a shadow fighting off another shadow in a house. His face showed strain and plain fear as he kept screaming for her to run.

Sakura looked at herself, she was eight again. With her navy blue shirt and tan pants, the little red ribbon in her hair was absent with her little blue shoes. When she looked at her arms and legs, Sakura saw she had small cuts all over.

"Sakura! Run please, go baby!" he grunted and shoved his opponent off, then ran to his daughter,

"Find your mom and get out of here! Please go Sakura!" Then Sakura heard a loud crack in the night. Her father's face twisted in pain, Sakura felt little drops fall on her face. It was his blood, mixed with tears.

"I love you baby, please, run." He started to fall forward and Sakura put her little arms around his torso, she was frozen in fear,

"Daddy…? Daddy…?" by then Sakura started to cry, confused and scared; she clung to her lifeless father as the shadow grew nearer.

"Don't worry little girl…You'll have a good home with the rest of them…" he pointed and was a room full of girls with chains on her their wrists. They moaned and cried out for Sakura to help them extending their hands to try and grab her.

Sakura panicked even more and started to move away, scooting back as far as she could. That was when she noticed her father was no longer with her.

"Don't worry; I'll save you a perfect spot in my collection…" He walked closer with a sword in hand, now that Sakura could see him better, she saw that he wore old clothes. He had a black jumpsuit on with a grey vest, and grey pants. His boots were also grey and had what looked like armor on his shins and forearms.

"No…stay away!" cried Sakura as she scooted back until she hit a wall. Her head was swimming with chaos, when she looked into his eyes she saw they were blood red with black dots in them. The walls were sprayed with red blood while everything else was black and white. Her body shook and tears wouldn't stop coming out of her eyes, Sakura screamed when he lunged at her but then saw a body block her own and heard the words,

"Kai!!"

Sakura saw her mothers face on the body that had blocked her,

"Sakura, wake up now! Wake up please! Sakura!!"

"Sakura, SAKURA!!"

Sakura sat up, then felt something holding down both her arms, as she looked around with wide eyes, she saw Naruto and Sasuke holding her down. As she inspected her arms and legs they were littered with small cuts and there were little blood spots all over her bed.

As she looked at her right hand, her eyes widened when she saw that in her right hand she was gripping an old looking knife. It was black with a long handle with a ring shaped end to it, like she could swing it around on her finger; it had blood stains on it,

"W…what happened?"

"You were cutting yourself Sakura; you were screaming and rolling around on your bunk as if you were in a horrible type of pain." Naruto's voice was shaking, and stress marks lined his round face, he had a few cuts on his arms. He was holding the hand with the knife in it. Sasuke was looking at her cuts, holding down her left arm. He actually looked a little concerned, he was sweating too. Obviously, it had taken a lot of strength to hold her down.

"I…I would never…I would never cut myself!" she jerked her arms away from Naruto and Sasuke, rolling away from them on her bunk. That was when she felt a sharp pain in her elbow; Sakura looked down in horror as she saw the picture frame of her mother and father broken to pieces. The picture was still in it, but it had cut marks in it, probably from the knife,

"W...what have I done?" Sakura whimpered as she carefully took the picture out of the broken frame.

"S-Sakura, you're bleeding!" stuttered Naruto pointing to her bloody elbow. His eyes looked truly concerned, like she was about to die or something.

"Yeah…I'll go clean up." Said Sakura, Sasuke had let go of her arm long ago and was sitting on his bottom bunk packing what might need for their little venture with Kakashi. His back pack was a navy blue with a red and white fan on the back. It was simple, yet the material looked new.

Sakura walked into the bathroom and started to pour water over her cuts, some of the dried up and stopped, but the wound on her elbow just wouldn't stop bleeding. Her mother had told her the best thing to do for a cut was to keep it dry and clean. Sakura walked back out of the bathroom and grabbed her suitcase. When she unzipped it, Sakura dug under her clothes and pulled out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

_This is gonna hurt…_

Naruto hissed at it, Naruto probably used this every single day from what Sakura could see with how many cuts and bruises he got.

_Maybe that's why he has brain damage,_ Thought Sakura bitterly as she walked back into the bathroom, she sat on the counter and took the top off the peroxide bottle. Then she held out her arm and turned her head away as she poured it over her cut.

Mistake number one.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! IT BURNS, IT BURNS!!" screamed Sakura as her cut bubbled up; obviously it had been rather dirty.

Naruto and Sasuke were in the sleeping area of the cabin holding their hands over their ears.

"Geeze, Sakura can you yell any louder!?" pour Naruto's ears were ringing.

"How annoying." Muttered Sasuke, but as he uttered this, she screamed again and both boys put their fingers in their ears.

"That's it! I'll never put peroxide on my cuts ever again!!" cried Naruto, "It's killing Sakura!!"

"It's not killing her you idiot, it's cleaning her wound, the stinging will probably stop soon." He turned away from Naruto as the little boy gave him a curious look.

"He spoke! Ha ha! Sakura! You got him to speak!" yelled Naruto, but soon Sakura was walking out of the bathroom with a wrap around her elbow. She looked horrible, she had managed to brush her hair and brush her teeth while she was in their, but her eyes had bags under them. They looked very heavy.

"You gonna be okay Sakura?" Naruto asked approaching her, he looked at her curiously when she didn't answer.

Mistake number two.

"No I'm not alright you idiot! It burns!" she screamed at Naruto then punched him on the head. He whimpered and scooted away from her in total fear.

"You're both annoying."

Sakura whipped around and looked at Sasuke with a shocked expression. Sasuke expected her to cry, but instead she was rather quiet,

"You…you spoke." She was pointing at him blinking; he looked away from her, trying to get her to leave him alone.

Sakura was so excited! He had spoken to her! (Occ: Totally ignoring the insult. Lol!) Sakura was so excited that she ran off and grabbed her suitcase excitedly and headed to the bathroom in a skip. When she got in, Sakura closed the door then dressed in her usual attire, her red shirt with the white circle on the back and her skirt with slits up the side with black shorts.

When Sakura finished, she went out and walked up to Sasuke. He was looking at the door with narrowed eyes.

"Sasuke…san?" He didn't look at her, just looking straight ahead.

"He's coming." Sasuke murmured his eyes fixed on the front door.

"Who is?" asked Sakura and Naruto was peeking at Sasuke from over her shoulder.

Suddenly their was a knock on the door,

"Come in." piped Sakura, she was scared of this guy, but he did have the decency to knock.

Their councilor stepped through the door; he was holding an orange book and wearing the same clothes that he had had on yesterday.

"Are you guys ready?" he asked raising the one eye that was visible to look over all of them, he looked over Naruto, Sasuke, and stopped on Sakura then looked at her elbow.

"What happened there?" he asked a little concerned.

"Sakura was cu-"Sakura hit Naruto over the head and screamed,

"Naruto! Shut up! Sir I was frightened by a spider on my bed and cut my elbow on the shelf when I jerked away from it. Sasuke looked at her oddly, wasn't she going to tell him?

Something else caught Kakashi's attention and he was over at Sakura's bunk picking up the knife on her bed.

"Where did you get this?" he asked turning to Sakura, with mild curiosity.

"M…My mom gave it to me before I left for camp, for protection!" She stuttered on that last part and prayed that he believed her.

"This knife is old…" he said to himself inspecting it, he put it back on the bed and turned to the rest of them,

"Are you ready?" Kakashi asked raising an eyebrow; he obviously didn't think they were.

"Yes Sir." Said Naruto proudly, he was anxious to get started.

"Yes Sir." Said Sakura nodding, her voice was a little broken.

Sasuke just nodded.

"Alright, then follow me." They all headed outside and into the woods, Sakura had only one thing running through her mind,

_He's an axe murder! He's an axe murder! He's luring us out in the woods to kill us! _

Sakura decided to be safe and the only weapon she had…She ran back to the bed and grabbed the old knife. The only problem was where was she going to put it? Then it came to her, Sakura's mom had given her a small little back that she could wrap around her waist. Sakura dug in her bag and pulled it out with a satisfied grin,

"Sakura, are you coming?" yelled Naruto from outside the cabin.

"Shut up Naruto I'm coming!" Sakura thought it would be a little obvious if she wore it on her waist, so she put it on her leg under her skirt. After it was good and secure, she ran out and gulped when she saw Kakashi inspect her then head on.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Sakura's nervousness and Naruto was grinning and bounding beside Kakashi.

"So, Mr. Kakashi, what are we going to do first? What kind of badge can I earn first? Can I do the martial arts thing? Where are we-"

"We're here," Kakashi turned toward the three of them, "alright, we're going to do a little test okay?" When everyone nodded, he pulled out two bells; he let them cling to make sure everyone was paying attention.

"This is what I call the bell test, note, if you all fail this test, you have to go home."

Excuse the three as they are silent from shock.

Okay they're back.

"What?!" yelled both Naruto and Sakura, Naruto was waving his arms in panic and Sakura hand her arms up by her chest in defensive position. Sasuke was now very interested.

"That's right, new camp rule. If you can't pass the instructors test, then you go home." Sakura was sure he was smiling under that mask. Big jerk, first she thought he was some cereal killer, now she thought he was just crazy!

"Alright so how do we do it?" asked Naruto anxiously, wanting to begin.

"Wait; there are only two bells, doesn't that mean one of us is going to fail? Isn't that unfair?" asked Sakura, she had noticed there were only two bells in the beginning, but she had been too scared to ask.

"Good observation, one of you might fail; I'm going to pick out the winners." Said Kakashi putting his book away, he hooked the bells on a loop on his pants then looked at them.

"You have to get them from me." Kakashi was beaming under that dumb mask at least that was what Sakura thought.

"But councilor, you're so much bigger than us, how can we possibly get it from you?" asked Sakura looking at him like he was nuts. He was at least six foot and probably well built. How in the world did he expect them to take those things from him?

"You might want to get stretched out first." He said sitting on a tree stump, Kakashi put his nose in his book and it didn't look like he was taking his nose out of it.

The three sat there and thought to themselves on what they would do, Sakura's knees were shaking,

_He's going to kill us! Or kidnap us! That's why he lured us out here!_

Sasuke was stretching his arms and legs, so was Naruto, glaring at Sasuke the entire time.

"I'll beat that guy; he won't get the best of me." Mumbled Naruto in a low voice, he had hated Sasuke since the first day of elementary school.

"Alright, enough stretching, time to get started. Now…" Kakashi rose off the stump and put his book away,

"I want you to come at me like you want to kill me."

Once again, excuse our hero's as they take a commercial break for a moment.

Okay, back again.

"Why would we want to kill you?"

"You'll get it if you pass." Said Kakashi looking over all of them, then he smiled again,

"I'll stand right here; you can try and take them from me." He put his hands in his pockets, Kakashi looked totally uninterested.

Naruto was the first to try, he ran at Kakashi with his fist back. Kakashi gave him a small glance then grabbed his wrist and put Naruto's arm behind his back,

"You'll have to do better than that." Said Kakashi with his famous raised eyebrow, Naruto was growling, upset that his attack hadn't succeeded.

"You'll never get anywhere with those kind of attacks, plan ahead."

Naruto took the opposite effect, he twisted and swung his leg at Kakashi's face, Kakashi then put his hand up and grabbed Naruto's ankle then spun him around and into a nearby stream.

"You've got a long way to go." Kakashi sighed and turned to Sasuke and Sakura. Then he noticed Sasuke was no longer present, when Kakashi looked around, Sasuke's foot came out of no where. Kakashi put his arm up and blocked the boys attack, Sasuke put his hands on the ground and used his other leg and swung at Kakashi's face again. Kakashi caught his other ankle then realized his mistake. Sasuke smirked as he knew his plan was working, but as Sasuke went to reach for the bell, Kakashi let go of his ankle and used a flat palm to push him away. Sasuke hit the ground rolling and then stood back up panting.

Sakura was blushing, she had no idea Sasuke was so cool! Well, she knew he was cool but not this cool!

Then her little fantasy went up in smoke when Sasuke rushed him, he dashed sideways then tried to kick again, this time Kakashi was ready. He grabbed Sasuke's ankle spun him around, and threw him in a sand pit. Sasuke felt the sinking sensation but it stopped when his feet hit the bottom of the pit. He gave a sigh of relief.

Sakura's eyes about bugged out of her head, now she was really panicking, Sakura had no one to protect her. Even Naruto would have been better!!

"You're turn." Stated Kakashi in a monotone voice, as he stood there Sakura gulped. This was too much. Way too much, something was making her nervous about this man. She was afraid; this scene looked all too familiar. Something about this-

"Sakura, I know you're afraid. Try to look past it, look past what is unseen." Kakashi was speaking in a low, comforting voice, like he was trying to put her at ease.

Yeah, like that was gonna happen.

Something then came over Sakura, her head started to burn and ache. She was starting to remember things, she saw the councilor, dressed only the same, instead he had gloves on with the camps symbol and a metal headband. She saw a red eye like in her dream last night, knives like the one in her pouch.

"No! Make it stop! Please!" Sakura screamed, by then Naruto was out of the stream and looking at her very concerned. Sasuke was looking at her oddly; he hadn't seen her ever act like this.

"Sakura, what's wrong, do you have a head ache?" asked Naruto approaching her.

Suddenly, the flashes stopped and she looked up at Kakashi. He was looking at her like he was expecting her to say something.

She knew him, before all of this, she knew him. Somehow, some way this was all familiar.

What was going on?

And that chapter is done!! Unexpected huh? Lol! I love confusing people! Anyway, next chapter will be up soon!

Soon all questions will be answered!!


	4. Chapter 4: Dream walkers

**Chapter four: Day walkers**

**Hey guys! Up with a new chapter!! Read and enjoy! Please review this chapter and tell me what you think! I need your feed back! **

**So far thanks to reviews from-**

**xmarachanx**

**Kaya Tetsu**

**kerapal bubbles**

**Anyway- To the story!!**

**I do not own Naruto!!**

* * *

Chapter four: Day walkers

Sakura had gone back to the cabin after her headache had gone away. Kakashi had insisted she sleep it off and that Naruto and Sasuke could finish the challenge.

Sakura was so nervous it was driving her insane; she kept glancing at her pack on her leg. That knife had had something to do with this, and her dream was just creepy. Sakura knew neither her mother nor her father had owned such a knife. Neither had Sakura for that matter, it was so strange. The knife still had stains from Sakura's blood on it; maybe it had Naruto's too since he had helped hold her down. He had even had scratch marks on his ar-

Wait, a knife with her and Naruto's blood on it was in her pocket…gross!

"Okay, time to clean you up." Sakura walked into the bathroom, when she turned on the sink and looked up she screamed.

There was a man in the mirror instead of her reflection; he was looking into her eyes with his blood red ones. It was the fact that he looked so much like a ghost that scared her; he had pale skin and stringy black hair. He had also a scratched out leaf for head protector. Sakura was about to drop to her knees when she remembered something her mom told her to do if she was scared,

"_Focus all your heart into it then put your hands up like this and say, Kai!" her mother put her hands up and showed her._

"_Like this?" asked little Sakura and did the same as her mother, her fingers lacing together._

"_That's right! Do that whenever you feel scared of see someone you're scared of."_

Sakura put her shaky hands up and screamed,

"Kai!"

Instantly, the image of him vanished and Sakura saw her own reflection again. Sakura dropped to the floor with tears leaking out of her eyes, her knees shaking and her mind in chaos,

"What is going on?" Sakura asked herself, she cried for a moment then stood up and went to the sink and washed the knife off. She made sure not to look in the mirror on fear of seeing this man again. After the knife was washed, Sakura went to her bed and saw it still had blood stains on it.

"Well, good thing mom packed an extra sheet." Sakura pulled out the clean sheet and laid it on Sasuke's bunk then moved to her bunk and took the dirty sheet off. She would take it to the wash house later. She then pulled on the good bed sheet, and made her bed. This was helping take her mind off the man in the mirror.

When Sakura got down from her bunk, the door burst open,

"Sakura!!" screamed Naruto running in the room and over to her,

"Hey are you okay?! I thought you were a going to die or something!" Sakura had jumped when Naruto had run in, she felt her heart beating a thousand times a second.

"N-Naruto you idiot!" screamed Sakura as she punched him in the face, "You don't just walk into a room with a girl in it! You knock first, what if I had been changing?!"

Naruto seemed to consider this for a moment, and then he seemed to be imagining something that was making his nose bleed…

This friends, was Naruto's biggest mistake.

This time, Inner Sakura spoke aloud out of Sakura's mouth,

"**HOW DARE YOU EVEN IMAGINE ME LIKE THAT YOU PERVERT CHA!!**" screamed Sakura punching him over and over then using an upper cut to pull him up and throw him out of the cabin.

As Naruto sailed out of the cabin, Kakashi and Sasuke ducked as he flew by,

"Tch, idiot." Murmured Sasuke walking in, seeing that she wasn't doing anything but being stupid herself. He saw though, that her bloody sheet was on his bed. He glared at the sheet then looked up at her.

Sakura was standing in the center of the cabin panting and holding up her fists. Fire seemed to sparking in her eyes as she was looking out of the cabin door, Sasuke quickly got out of the blast zone by passing her and sitting on his bunk, he clearly avoided the dirty sheet.

Kakashi came in next, waving his hands, maybe trying to show her he wasn't an enemy, like it would work.

"I see you're headache has gotten better." Sakura snapped out of it and faced Kakashi,

"Yes, I'm fine now I guess the stress got to me." Sakura faked a laugh and put a hand behind her head. Kakashi seemed unconvinced; he walked into the room and saw she had replaced the sheets on her bed. He decided to leave it and inspected the entire area,

"Councilor, what are you doing?" asked Sakura with curiosity, Naruto and Sasuke were watching him too.

"Just seeing about something…" he trailed off and walked toward the door. He seemed to be in deep thought.

"Um…councilor, is it our free time?" asked Naruto, he seemed excited. He was probably tired of the mornings training.

"Oh, yes it is, do as you guys wish for the rest of the day." With that, Kakashi walked out the door, not sparing a second thought on the children.

Sakura stood there for a moment, but Naruto walked right out the door,

"C'mon Sakura, lets go do something together! C'mon or I'll leave you behind!"

"Naruto, you idiot we have to go places as a team during dusk." Muttered Sasuke, and sure enough when Sakura looked out the window she saw the sun was starting to set. She had been in the cabin for that long?

"Yeah, yeah so come on Sasuke!" yelled Naruto from outside the cabin.

Sakura turned to face Sasuke with an excited look,

"Hey Sasuke, we could go out on the pond in a boat…just you and me! We can leave stupid Naruto behind!" Sakura waited for his response.

"You're just as stupid as he is, you're both annoying." He stood up and walked out and left poor Sakura standing there dumbfounded.

"But…I'm not Naruto…" she said sadly, all she wanted was for him to be her friend. He was better than stupid Naruto. None the less, Sakura walked outside with him and Naruto. They crossed the grounds, looking for something to do and Naruto was getting on Sakura's last nerves,

"Oh, let's go this way! No let's go swimming!" he kept going and going and going, he reminded her of the freaking pink rabbit on T.V. He never stopped! Sakura was about to yell when she saw her worst enemy,

"Ino…" growled Sakura standing in front of Sasuke with a look of pure distain on her face, Ino was standing there with two other guys. One was rather skinny and had his hair tied back. Oddly, it reminded Sakura of a pineapple, he looked lazy and he yawned like a cow. He had his leaf bandana around his arm.

The other was rather large…okay not rather large. He had stuffing around the middle we'll say. He was stuffing his face with potato chips and standing close to the skinny boy. He had his bandana on his forehead, though, his looked like he had a pair of underwear on his head with a leaf symbol on it.

Sakura also noticed Ino had her bandana around her waist.

"Hello Sakura." Said Ino her voice was dripping with venom and equal dislike. She walked up to Sakura then a look of shock went over her face,

"Sasuke, you're in a group with bill board brow!?" cried Ino, her face showed pure drama and complete disappointment.

Sakura growled at the mention of her childhood nickname, Sakura hated that name.

"That's right Ino-pig! He's in my group so back off!" Sakura had had enough today, she had been woken up from a strange dream this morning, just been freaked out by some creepy guy in a mirror this evening, and had the worst headache of her life this afternoon!

There was no way Ino was going to get to her now.

"Ino cool down jeeze you're so troublesome." The lazy boy had interrupted before Ino had the chance to yell. He had both hands in his pockets and was trying to pass off as passive.

Though, Sasuke kept looking at him, like there was something special about him.

"Is anyone gonna talk to me!?" yelled Naruto in frustration, he wanted to be noticed too!

"Like anyone would listen to you Uzumaki, why don't you stop babbling?" The three turned around and saw a boy with dark brown hair, it was tied back and he had his bandana on his for head. On his body, he wore a tan jacket that seemed to have a few straps in front, and a pair of black shorts. On his feet he wore blue tennis shoes, what the heck is with the blue color?! The oddest thing about him though, was his eyes; he had pearl like eyes and no pupil, scary. He also sounded like he was from a rich line, the way he spoke so eloquently.

"Neji stop it." A girl joined him, her hair was up in two buns and she had a Chinese-like outfit on. The top was a baby pink and her pants were a navy blue. Like Neji she had her bandana on her forehead. Once again, this girl had blue shoes,

_Okay, I feel like I'm in the twilight zone…_ thought Sakura seeing all the blue shoes.

"Calm yourself TenTen, my actual business is with Uchiha here…" Neji turned to stare at Sasuke and Sasuke just stared back with no emotion.

"Can I help you?" asked Sasuke dully, he didn't seem to notice Neji's 'I'm all that' look.

"I hear you're a child prodigy, the way you earned all those awards last year, and that your entire family was unfortunately killed off." Neji smiled, knowing this would get to Sasuke.

It did.

Sasuke gave him a glare that if looks could kill, Neji would be six feet under by now.

"Don't you dare speak of my family, Hyuuga." Sasuke growled.

Sakura stood between the two, trying to break them up.

"C'mon guys lets stop."

"Step aside Haruno," Said Neji with a sharp voice, "I want to test his strength." Sasuke and Neji stepped closer together, ready to knock each others lights out.

"That's it!" yelled TenTen, she got between them and put a hand on Neji's chest and glared at Sasuke,

"I swear you boys get more idiotic every year! You do this all the time! C'mon Neji, lets go." She started to push Neji away when a boy clad in green sped to a stop right beside Neji and TenTen,

"Neji, TenTen, councilor guy wants to see us!" The boy had thick eyebrows and orange leg covers. Like Ino, he had his bandana around his waist though his looked dirty and brownish.

_What is with all the blue shoes!!_ Thought Sakura in frustration as she observed the boy's feet he also had blue shoes.

"Alright Lee, let's get going. I'll return Uchiha, and we'll see whose clan is strongest." Neji walked off with the other two, leaving Ino, and her team to face Sakura and her team.

"I'll see you later Sakura, don't forget to get ready for the exams…" said Ino turning to walk away with the other two boys.

"What exams?" asked Sakura with curiosity, there were exams? How much had changed since she was away?

"You don't know? Oh well, you're councilor must think you're not ready to go into the exams." Ino flipped her hair and walked away.

Sakura felt hurt, when she thought back to Ino and her own relationship, Sakura remembered they had been the best of friends. Ino had been the one to bring Sakura out of her shyness. She had even given Sakura the red hair ribbon. But when she thought back to the people she had seen so far…she…remembered them somehow, but differently…And that girl that was with that Neji guy was-

_Was in my dream! She was one of the girls that were chained down! Come to think of it…so was Ino!!_ Sakura thought more about this, forgetting the exam.

"There are exams?! Cool!" yelled Naruto jumping up and down, Sasuke looked interested.

"We'll ask Kakashi-sensei about it later." Sakura jumped at her wording, she hadn't even been thinking about it.

"Kakashi…sensei?" asked Naruto and Sasuke had jerked his head towards Sakura when she had said it.

"I…don't know I just said it. Maybe I've heard it said somewhere before. Oh well, we'd better get back to our cabin before it turns dark." Sakura was starting to shiver, something didn't feel quite right. Like something was watching them, like they were being stalked. The sun was almost set and it was getting dark by the minute.

"Alright, let's go…what's wrong Sakura?" asked Naruto, but he looked a little nervous too, so did Sasuke.

"Do you guys not feel it?" whispered Sakura, rubbing her arms to try and get rid of her goose bumps.

"Yeah, someone's following us." Muttered Sasuke, Sakura gasped and looked around, so was Naruto.

"Don't look around!" snapped Sasuke quietly, "we might be able to lose them, how fast can you guys run?"

"Pretty fast." Muttered Sakura, the feeling was getting worse.

"I'm really fast, I can keep up with you!" said Naruto, raising his voice slightly.

"Good, then follow me." Sasuke suddenly took off, Naruto followed and Sakura was last in line. Eventually, Sakura lost track of Sasuke and Naruto. Panic flooded her ability to think and she stopped,

"Sasuke…Naruto?" Sakura's voice was squeaking, sweat covered her forehead and her knees were shaking. The feeling was like death was looming over her, stalking her.

"Anyone…?" whimpered Sakura taking a few steps forward and that was when it happened.

Sakura felt someone grab her arm and jerk her around, she was pulled into a hold and the person's other hand covered her mouth when she screamed. Sakura stomped on her attacker's foot, it didn't work. She even bit his hand, to no avail. Finally, her last resort, Sakura had remembered this from a self-defense class. When someone has you in a hold, pull your arms forward if you can and then jerk them back into your attacker's ribs.

Sakura managed to move her arms forward and jerked them back. This earned a sharp pain in her elbows. The attacker must have been wearing armor.

"Come quietly, and I won't kill you."

Sakura tried to scream but it came out muffled, this time her attacker put his arm around her throat and flexed his muscle.

Sakura couldn't breath; his bicep was blocking her airway. He was going to choke her out! Sakura's vision was starting to fade, with it all her hopes of being saved,

_Father…I'll be with you soon…Daddy…_ Tears leaked out of Sakura's eyes as her last hope left with her consciousness. Then, before her entire vision went black, she saw a figure running toward her, calling her name. When she heard this, the arm let go and she fell backwards,

"SAKURA!" screamed a young boy voice.

"Daddy?" Sakura choked out before falling into the darkness of the night.

* * *

**Tee he he! Guess who saved her? You'll find out shortly in the next chapter of Tears to rain! **

**Thanks to-**

**xmarachanx**

**Kaya Tetsu**

**kerapal bubbles**

**and many more who have put me on their chapter alerts!! **


	5. Chapter 5: Dark encounter

Chapter 5: Dark memories

**Chapter 5: Dark memories**

Running, running, running, always running, why was she always running? Sakura was running from a dark shadow in her mind, from the man always chasing her. Dark blood eyes, a long ago forgotten sorrow. A dark gloomy night, a cold stone bench, a brave confession…It was so…painful…

The first thing Sakura heard was something that sounded like fists hitting something hard and heavy breathing. The heavy breathing was near her, that's when she realized someone was holding her.

As Sakura opened her eyes, her vision was out of focus so she only saw a blue and black blur. When her vision started to focus, she saw Sasuke's face, he wasn't looking down at her, he was looking up with wide eyes. That was when Sakura felt something hit her face, her eyes became very wide when she saw another red drop land on her face. On Sasuke's left shoulder, there was a large rip in his shirt, it was stained red.

"Sa…Sasuke?" she whimpered, fear was making its way into her mind once again as she began shivering.

He must have either heard her or felt her tremble because he looked down at her,

"You okay?" he asked softly, trying not to startle her.

"You're…bleeding…" said Sakura; she was looking at his bloody shoulder.

"I'm alright…" he said turning his face away but then he looked up again, he seemed to let out a low growl.

When Sakura looked in that direction, she saw that boy that Sasuke had called Hyuuga. His arms were by his side and he was looking to the left with a harsh glare on his face. He had a few cuts on his arms and a rip in his shirt but it wasn't bleeding like Sasuke's. Standing beside him, were his teammates, TenTen, and Lee.

TenTen was holding a kunai in her left hand, and a shuriken in another hand. She had a deep cut on her face and right arm, which was hanging limply at her side.

_Wait, kunai? What's a kunai? How did I know that? _

Lee seemed alright, besides being very sweaty and looking worn out. He had wraps on his hands but that didn't seem to stop the blood coming from his knuckles.

Neji walked over to TenTen,

"We need to find our medic and patch up your face and arm." He ripped off the bottom part of his shirt and wrapped it around her arm, then he ripped off more and dabbed her face with it. She seemed to blush,

"Thank you Neji, but you need to fix yourself up too. That was amazing Neji." She said softly. She seemed as surprised as Neji was, but about what?

He seemed to show no emotion to this, he seemed to be in a little bit of shock. His fingers didn't look to well. He turned to his other teammate,

"You alright Lee?"

"Yes Neji, I am fine." Said Lee, his voice was strained but he seemed to be okay.

"We'll get your fists cleaned up as well." Neji seemed to look over both his other teammates as they looked over him.

Sakura looked up at Sasuke,

"Sasuke…what happened?" she looked at the gash in his shoulder then back to him with so much confusion. How had he gotten such a large gash?

"I'll tell you when we get back to th-"

"Sakura!" Naruto was running toward the group with Kakashi leading. He stopped in front of Sasuke and Sakura,

"We'll get you fixed up soon Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, get him to the medic tent!"

"Where are you going Kakashi-sensei?!" asked Naruto, he was coiled like an angry snake. Sakura saw he had scratch marks too.

"I'm going to get a search party together and find Sakura's attacker. Go, and lock the doors to your cabin when you get back!" Kakashi took off, running down the road.

"Alright Sasuke, let go of Sakura." Said Naruto gently, trying to pry Sasuke's hands from around Sakura's shoulder and under her legs. That was when it occurred to Sakura that he was holding her bridal style. She didn't have the heart to blush when he was so hurt, he wasn't even standing, Sasuke was kneeling.

Sasuke slowly let go of Sakura, setting her carefully on the ground. As soon as she was out of his grip, Sasuke fell on his side, his shoulder was bleeding heavily.

"Sasuke!" cried both Sakura and Naruto, both went to help him up, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's right arm and pulled it around his shoulders. Naruto then gently lifted him off the ground; Sakura went to his other side she was ripping his sleeve off so she could get a good look at his laceration. It was deep and he would probably need many stitches. Tears leaked from her eyes, the shock was finally getting to her. She had just been attacked! She could have been killed or something worse than that!

Finally they got to the medical cabin, Sakura was amazed that Naruto could carry Sasuke all that way. She had deeply underestimated him.

When they entered, they Neji and his group were already there. TenTen had a large patch over her right cheek and a proper bandage over her right arm. She was sitting on a table where Neji was being fixed up by a woman in hospital clothing. She was dabbing his arms with some kind of jell.

"Ma'am, we have an emergency!" yelled Naruto dragging Sasuke in, Sakura was stumbling in behind them. She still hadn't gotten over most of the shock.

"Oh my Lord!" cried the nurse, she quickly told TenTen to dab jell on all of Neji's cuts, and then she ran over to Naruto and Sasuke.

"My Lord this poor boy…put him on a bed honey!" Naruto got Sasuke onto a bed where the nurse cut the shirt off the boy to keep from contaminating his wound with the dried blood.

"You two get on a bed over there while I fix him up. Ms. TenTen will put some jell on your cuts. I'll take care of your bruises in a minute Ms. Sakura."

_Bruises? _ Thought Sakura, then she touched her neck with her fingertips. Sakura jumped when she felt a sharp pain go through her neck. She stood there, frozen again, her knees where shaking as she began to think about what happened,

_He had me by the neck…I remember now… _The memory wasn't pleasant, and it kept scaring her more and more as she thought more and more about it.

Suddenly, she felt a warm hand on her back, she turned and saw Naruto. He was looking at her kindly and put slight pressure on her back to get her to move. He led her to a bed and sat her down, and then he sat down beside her.

"Naruto…what happened?" muttered Sakura, trying to keep calm.

Naruto took and deep breathe and began,

"_Keep running guys!" yelled Sasuke as they neared the cabin. They were almost safe! Kakashi would be there to give our final look over before they went to sleep. _

"_Sasuke, stop!" called Naruto, Sasuke turned around to see only Naruto following behind them. Sasuke cursed under his breath and turned heel and started to back track with Naruto closely behind him. _

_They almost got to the scene to late; they saw a strange man starting to choke out Sakura. Sasuke's heart seemed to stop…something about this man…something about her. It all seemed so familiar. Naruto had stopped in his tracks and was staring at the man his knees shaking. _

_Sakura took the first attack, _

"_Sakura!!" he screamed and caught the mans attention, it didn't seem to phase him, the man simply took out a sword with his other arm since the girl in the opposite arm was limp. Went Sasuke got close enough, he swung out with the sword._

_It hit._

_Sasuke screamed in pain and reeled back, he was clutching his shoulder. That was when Naruto woke up,_

"_Sasuke!" Naruto rushed in and did something that surprised all parties,_

"_Shadow clone jutsu!" suddenly, there were five Narutos, each Naruto stopped and looked at each other. _

"_What the heck?" Naruto asked himself, their guest seemed a little more surprised than Naruto did, he dropped Sakura and jumped back, before Sakura could hit the ground, Sasuke ran over and caught her. Much to his poor shoulders dismay, it was starting to bleed badly. _

"_Naruto, run!" cried Sasuke as he lifted Sakura onto his back despite the pain. He started to run and he heard Naruto's footsteps behind him. Then he heard a third set of steps and panic raced through his adrenalin rushed mind, how would they escape?! Then Sasuke got an idea,_

"_Naruto, do that shadow thing again!" said Sasuke over his shoulder. _

"_Are you kidding? I don't even know how I did that!" _

"_Just try or we're all goners!" yelled Sasuke, waited for his desired result._

"_Okay…um uh…Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto put his hands in the sign again and once again, a clone of himself appeared._

"_Make that clone go get help!"_

"_Right!" cried both Naruto's and one separated from the group. The guest followed the two kids. _

_Finally, Sasuke's shoulder called it quits; he stopped and dropped to his knees. Blood was gushing out of his wound like a river of blood. He pulled Sakura off his back and pulled her in front of him, and leaned over her to try and be like a human shield. _

"_Sasuke!!" yelled Naruto and stopped beside him, he put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. He pulled it off and saw blood covering his hand._

"_We have to get you to a hos-"he was stopped mid-sentence by the stranger stopping near them. Naruto turned just in time to dodge a flying blade, though he couldn't dodge the foot in his stomach. Naruto went flying, rolling on the ground until he could stop and get up. The stranger went for him again, this time in a stabbing type attack with his long sword. Naruto rolled again to the left and stood up then yelled,_

"_Shadow clone jutsu!" More Narutos appeared in the ally, and tried to tackle the stranger. The man simply cut through all of them. Naruto about wet himself, this guy was gonna kill them! When Naruto thought the man was about to slice him like a raw fish, someone cried,_

"_Leaf Hurricane!" and the man was kicked away, a green and orange blur zipped by and went after the man again. Naruto sat back and took that much needed breath._

"_Naruto, Sasuke!" Neji was running up to them with TenTen very close behind him. TenTen had out an old looking knife and a throwing star._

_Shuriken…Kunai…thought Naruto, he shook his head and watched the bloody battle unfold before him._

_Lee kept trying to punch the man, but he always moved away letting Lee punch walls of random cabins. Naruto didn't know if they were empty or not. Hopefully they weren't since Lee was making holes in them. When Lee went to punch him again, he moved away and then raised his leg and kicked Lee backwards, making him sail like Naruto did before. _

"_Lee!" cried TenTen and she went on the attack, with Neji close behind her. She threw a well aimed shuriken at his throat, he pulled up his sword and made it bounce off, and she simply dug out another one and what looked like a giant needle. She threw the shuriken and then threw the needle, it went right through the hole in the shuriken and struck first, making him think the shuriken had hit first and when he put the sword down saw the shuriken, it was too late. He twisted his body to dodge the flying piece of metal and it skimmed off a few hairs. _

_It was his turn._

_He ran forward and brought up his sword, TenTen jumped back but he was too fast, as an instinct, she brought her arm up to protect herself. That was when he stuck, the cut downward on her arm. Damaging several muscles in her arm, she gave a cry of pain and grasped her right arm. Next the man dug out a shuriken of his own and threw it at her, TenTen was unprepared, she jerked her head to the side and she felt cold metal cut her face. That was when Neji jumped into the fray,_

"_TenTen!" his eyes flashed from her to the man, the usual calm, collected Neji, was hacked. He went straight for the man; he had his hand out flat, his palms facing the man. Neji was faster than the man thought; he hit the man twice and then kicked him. Oh but he wasn't stopping there, Neji's eyes started to pulse, veins showing on the sides of his face. Then he put to fingers up and ran forward at the man while he was flying back, and the other boys and girl couldn't believe what they were seeing,_

"_Eight trigrams two palm! Four palm! Six palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms!" Neji was pounding at this man, Naruto almost felt sorry for the guy._

"_Naruto…" whispered Sasuke, he was breathing rather hard._

"_What is it Sasuke?" Naruto scooted closer to Sasuke, trying to listen to what he had to say._

"_Go get…Kakashi-sensei…" Sasuke's voice was getting weaker, and Naruto jumped up,_

"_Alright, I'll come back with help!" He took off, forgetting his new technique. _

"_Thirty-two palms!" The last hit sent the man flying; then, smoke exploded around the man and all there was left of him was a very beaten log. He was standing on top of a cabin putting a hand over his stomach. He looked hurt enough to have taken many of the hits._

_Neji was panting, looking up at the man with pure rage, the stranger didn't seem to care. He looked at Neji, TenTen, Lee, Naruto, Sasuke, and then Sakura. Then, as cold as death, he muttered,_

"_I'll be back." Then he simply vanished…_

As Naruto ended his story, tears were flowing from Sakura's eyes; they had both saved her life! Sakura felt horrible for all the things she had said to Naruto. He had busted his butt for her and she had treated him like the most annoying thing on earth! How could she?

"Naruto…" she said, Sakura's voice was broken and her throat was raw.

"What is it Sakura?" Naruto looked puzzled; he thought she would be happy _Sasuke_ had saved her.

Suddenly, Sakura reached over and threw her arms around her neck,

"Thank you! Thank you Naruto…" Sakura cried over his shoulder.

Naruto was taken aback by this, but just reached up and put his arms around her torso,

"It's okay Sakura, it's gonna be okay." He rubbed her back as she sobbed on him. Neji had his faced turned away and TenTen was smiling saying 'aw' and 'How sweet.'

After a little while, Sakura let go of Naruto and looked at the drawn curtain around Sasuke's bed,

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Sakura asked feebly, her hands kept fidgeting; it was all her fault he was in that bed in the first place. She wanted him to live; she prayed he would be okay.

"He'll be fine, that jerks a fighter. He won't die." Said Naruto with pride, he knew Sasuke would pull through. He just knew it.

It had been a few hours since the entire group had gone to the nurse's cabin; the doctor had finally come out from behind the curtain surrounding Sasuke's bed. Her rubber gloved hands were covered in blood. Sakura had almost gotten sick when she saw it; Naruto had patted her on the back and given her a glass of water. Sakura gratefully drank it and watched as the nurse cleaned up. When she was done, the nurse walked over to Sakura and Naruto,

"He has several stitches, but he'll be fine. So don't you worry, he won't wake up for a while because I gave him a lot of pain medicine, why don't you two head back to your cabin?"

Sakura couldn't, she couldn't leave Sasuke here alone. Neji, TenTen, and Lee had left an hour ago, and there was no one else here besides them. Sakura shook her head,

"We can't leave him alone, can we please stay here." She turned to Naruto and he nodded, the nurse smiled,

"Alright, just sleep in one of those beds if you get tired." The nurse walked away and Sakura approached Sasuke's tent and pulled back the curtain. What she saw broke her heart; he was lying peacefully on the bed with an I.V. in his arm. His skin was so pale…his shirt was off and he had his left shoulder all wrapped up.

"Oh Sasuke…" she whispered, Sakura took a chair that was by his bed and scooted it closer. She looked down at his face, he looked at ease, but she remembered the painful look on his face when she woke up.

Sakura leaned over his bed and brushed a stray hair out of his face, then whispered into his ear,

"Thank you Sasuke…for saving me." She lifted her head for a moment then bent down again to kiss his forehead. Her lips softly touched his forehead, and he stirred. Sakura quickly drew back, afraid of waking him, but he stayed asleep.

"You look so peaceful…it's hard to believe you almost died…" Sakura could feel tears again, but held them back for his sake; she didn't want him if he was awake to hear her cry.

"You're right you know, I am annoying…I'm a horrible person. I said horrible things to Naruto…I was obsessed with you, I think I still am." Sakura's eyes found the floor; she looked at her feet while they fidgeted.

"You and Naruto don't deserve a teammate like me." Tears were rolling down her cheeks again; Sakura just couldn't hold them back,

"I don't do anything for this team…I just mess everything up…" her voice was breaking, and she was clenching her fists so hard her knuckles were white.

"Shut…up." Sakura's head shot up, to see Sasuke's eyes half open and looking at her.

"Sasuke?" Sakura said slowly, she started to wipe away her tears, blushing for looking so stupid in front of him.

"I…I'm sorry for waking you…I just wanted…I wanted to stay with you for a while."

"Where's Naruto?" He said quietly.

"In the waiting area on one of the beds…he's going to come and see you soon…"

"Are you okay?"

This question shocked Sakura; she had thought he didn't really care,

"...Sakura?"

"I'm fine Sasuke…Sasuke…I." she couldn't say anymore, there was an unfamiliar emotion clogging her throat. She could feel tears flowing down her cheeks. When she had calmed a little, she went on,

"I'm sorry…I…you got hurt because I was too slow. I…I…"

"Stop Sakura,'s not your fault, just…just…" his eyes were drooping, his eyelids getting heavy again,

"It's okay Sakura…its fine."

"Thank you Sasuke." Sakura took his hand very carefully, and rubbed her thumb over the top of his hand. Peace fell over the room and soon, Sakura had fallen asleep, her upper body laying on the bed and Sasuke's hand on her back.


	6. Chapter 6: Fan girl blues and the exam

**Hey everyone! I know you have been awaiting a new chapter, well here it is! Sorry this one may be a little boring but please submit reviews!**

**I do not own Naruto!!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Fan girl blues, and the exam**

Several days later, Sasuke was let out of the hospital. Though the time while Sasuke was in the hospital was much more exciting then he was out. The boy was so suborn about taking medicine it was ridiculous. The nurse had to actually hold him down to get the medication down his throat. Sakura and Naruto had laughed and laughed when he looked like a little child when nurse came around the corner with the bottle. A grim look of determination her face.

"Now Mr. Uchiha…you have to take this. It will help with the pain." She tried to be cheerful…it wasn't working. He turned away but kept one eye on her.

"Alright, if we have to do this the hard way we will." The lady came toward him with the pain pills and Sasuke started to sweat.

"Open up, and then take the cup of water…" she was saying this slowly, as if dreading the next five minutes.

Sasuke gave more of a glance at her, and then narrowed his eyes at her. When he saw her come closer he glared at her, she returned the glare,

"Now hold still and take your medicine…" she held out her hand with the pills in them. Sasuke turned his head away, giving childish 'humph'.

"Alright, Mr. Uzumaki, Ms. Haruno, hold him down." Naruto and Sakura started to approach, but he was ready this time. Sasuke rolled out of his bed then jumped up and started to run, though, this plan failed,

"Gotcha!" cried Naruto grabbing his leg; he had wrapped himself completely around Sasuke's leg,

"Let go of me! You won't get me to take that poison!" He hated it mostly because it made him sleepy, Sasuke thought he had slept enough and wanted his freedom,

"You're not healed yet Sasuke! Just hold still!" yelled Sakura taking one of them pills from the nurse and hiding it behind her back.

"Hold him down Naruto!" yelled Sakura running at Sasuke, he tried to escape, he really did, but Sasuke wasn't strong enough to shake Naruto off of him. He held out his hands and tried to hold Sakura back, he had one hand on each of her shoulders.

"Stop it Sakura! Get away from me! I said I don't want it!"

"Well you're getting it so hold still!" Sasuke made an error, his foot slipped when Naruto shook his leg to try and get him to lose his balance, it worked.

"Ahhhhh!" Sasuke fell backwards taking Sakura with him, there was a thud and the room went quiet.

"Um…Sasuke…you can let go of me now." Sakura was right on top of Sasuke; her face was redder than a tomato. The funny part was, so was Sasuke's,

"Uh…uh um…" His mouth was gaping open, shock over taking his senses for a moment, more shocking than that was Sasuke had his arm around her waist.

"Ah, no fair you get all the attention from Sakura!" Screamed Naruto, he was still holding onto Sasuke's leg.

Sasuke's face was getting redder and redder, it was a very awkward situation.

"All of you get off of me!" Yelled Sasuke struggling against them both, his eyes were wide and his mouth wide open.

Sakura took her chance; she took the pill and shoved it in Sasuke's mouth. She then jammed his mouth shut by putting one hand under his chin and the other on top of his head. When he swallowed it, Sakura grinned,

"Now that wasn't so hard was it Sasuke?" Sasuke didn't respond, he wasn't even looking at Sakura, he was looking at the floor, and his eyes were narrowed in a death glare.

Sakura recoiled, jumping off of him and scooting back on the floor. Her eyes were tearing up and her body was shaking. Naruto let go of Sasuke's leg and sat on his rear end, looking at Sakura with a concerned look,

"Sakura, what's wrong Sakura?" he was moving toward her slowly, when Naruto put his hand on her shoulder, Sakura flinched, even Sasuke was sitting up by now looking at her oddly,

"Sakura?" he asked quietly, the nurse was even sitting down by her.

"R-red eyes…" whimpered Sakura, her hands were balled up into fists and were slowly inching toward her chest in a protective stance,

"Red eyes, what red eyes Sakura?" asked Naruto looking more and more concerned, he looked at Sasuke but he just shrugged,

"Sakura…why are you afraid of me?" He seemed sincere, as if he had no idea what had occurred.

"You had…red eyes…" Sakura's voice was still shaking, but she had calmed down a little.

"Red eyes? I don't have red eyes Sakura." Sasuke walked over to her, he kneeled down and put a hand on her shoulder. As soon as he touched her, Sakura flinched. Sasuke pulled his hand back; then he spoke up,

"I don't know what happened to make you fear my eyes Sakura, but please don't be afraid of me…alright?" Sasuke stood up and held his hand out to Sakura to help her up.

Sakura looked at his hand, and then looked at his face; he had a look of no emotion on his face. Just calm, collected, it looked like if she refused to take his hand he would be okay with it. But what if he had been offended by her actions?

"Alright…" Sakura took his hand, and he pulled her up. When Sakura was on her feet, she avoided eye contact with Sasuke. Sakura felt horrible about being so afraid of him.

"Nurse, give me the other pill." Sasuke sat back on the hospital bed and took the pill from the rather shocked nurse. When she handed him the glass of water, Sasuke threw his head back and tossed the pill in his mouth, then swallowed with the water. Everyone in the room was shocked, Sakura had finally made eye contact, only she was blinking with her mouth open, the nurse had a look of satisfaction, and Naruto was looking at the person at the door,

_At the door? _Thought Sakura turning around, at the door, she saw a young girl. She had short black hair and those pearl-like eyes. This girl must have been nuts, she was wearing a large tan jacket with a heart on one side and a cloud on the other; it even had fur on the bottom! She was wearing black pants and…

_What is with the blue shoes!!_, Naruto was looking at the girl oddly and Sakura took another look at her.

She was standing in the door way staring at Naruto, her knees where shaking and her face was completely red,

"G-g-g-good m-m-m-morning N-N-N-N-Naruto-kun…" she stuttered out, she moved past Naruto and toward the nurse.

"I-I-I-I n-n-need some m-medicine…" The nurse smiled at her and started to dig around in the cabinet, when she found what the girl wanted; the nurse took it out and handed it to her,

"Here you go, you need it for you're teammates?" the nurse smiled at her fondly,

"Y-yes…Kiba-kun has h-hurt himself a-again." When she turned around, Naruto was right in front of her,

"Hey, what's the medicine for?" The poor girls face was turning redder and redder and redder, Naruto just kept talking.

"Naruto, she's getting medicine for her teammate let her through!" yelled Sakura pushing Naruto out of the way. As soon as he was out of sight, the girl ran quickly out the door and out of sight.

"What that all about? She's really weird." Said Naruto putting his arms behind his head, he laughed and walked back to the bed with Sasuke in it.

Sakura looked out the door really oddly; she thought she knew that girl. She knew her name was Hinata. She had been in her class this year. She usually sat at the back all alone, but somehow, she felt like she had seen the girl a thousand times. And somehow, she imagined the girl with long hair…

"Sakura, come back in! The nurse is making ramen!"

"Coming, Naruto!" Sakura put the thought behind her and turned back into the doorway of the nurse's cabin.

Sasuke was soon out of the hospital and wanting to run, his fan girls had found out about the accident and had been trying to get into the hospital cabin for days. They had chocolates, get well cards, brown fuzzy bears, and balloons. Sasuke had said 'no-go' with this image. Naruto and Sakura had had to sneak him out the back of the cabin, even that didn't work since some of them were at the back. The team ran for their lives for the team seven cabin. Sasuke was leading the group with a strong five feet ahead. Naruto was one foot behind him and Sakura was three feet away from Naruto.

As they ran by, Sakura saw Ino and her group; Ino had three balloons and some chocolates in her hands. Her direction indicated that she was heading to the hospital; Sakura's eyes went wide as Ino joined the group of fan girls. As they went further along the trail, she saw Neji, TenTen, and Lee, Lee yelled something at Sakura but she ignored it. That boy had been in love with her since the third grade.

As soon as they made it to the cabin, Sasuke ran through the door and rolled under his bunk bed. While Naruto ran through the door and ran to his bunk, Naruto jumped the stairs and ran under his sheet. Hoping none of them would find him, Sakura was the last one through. She ran through the door then closed it behind her, locking the door and closing all the windows.

"Jeeze Sasuke, how many fan girls do you have?!" yelled Naruto from under the shaking sheet.

"Many." Muttered Sasuke miserably from under the bunk bed, you could see the look of hate in his onyx eyes.

"How many?!" yelled Naruto again, this time his head was peeking out from under the sheet.

"I don't know how many get off my back!"

"How come you get all the girls?!"

"I don't ask for them to come here!"

"Funny, cause all the girls in camp are outside our cabin!"

"I don't know how I attracted them they're like annoying flies they don't go away!"

"WOULD YOU BOTH STOP ARGUING!?"

Both boys stopped and gave terrified looks to Sakura. She had her arms crossed and you could see the steam coming out of her ears.

"Look, how do you usually get rid of them Sasuke?"

Sasuke was silent.

"Sasuke how do you get rid of them?"

"I don't."

"You what?!" Sakura was screaming now.

"I usually wait until they give up and go away."

You could hear Naruto cracking up from under the sheet,

"So Sasuke's just a big chicken! Just like his hair! Chicken-butt, Chicken-butt, Chicken-butt!!"

"Shut up Naruto!"

"Chicken-butt!"

"I said shut up!" Sasuke slid out from under the bunk bed and jumped up on the top bunk of Naruto's bunk bed. Sakura could hear the distinct sound of punches and kicks going back and forth between the two boys. Oh great, now they had both lost it.

"Both of you stop it!" yelled Sakura, then she noticed something.

"It's quiet…too quiet…" said Sakura holding completely still, the boys had stopped by now and were looking around. Sakura was right; there was no noise, none at all. No screaming fan girls, no stomping feet and no hands hitting the sides of the cabin,

"What's going on? Where is everyone?" asked Naruto pushing Sasuke off of him, Naruto had a black eye and a red cheek, Sasuke had similar injuries. Sakura spoke up,

"By the way Naruto, your story…about that night…you were saying something about that night…when we were…"

The air in the room became very thick and heavy; Naruto and Sasuke were looking at the floor.

"What about it?" asked Naruto in a slightly gravely voice.

"You said you…cloned yourself? I didn't think about it until it got quiet."

Naruto seemed to perk up a little,

"Yeah, I want to see if I can do it again, wanna see?"

"I guess…" Sakura was curious.

"Okay!" Naruto dove down from the top bunk and put his hands up crossing two fingers from each hand,

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Suddenly there were two of Naruto; they gave each other high fives while Sakura and Sasuke gaped,

"How did you do that Naruto?!" asked Sakura, she walked up to one of them and poked him in the head,

"I don't know, it just came to me during the fight. I just…did it." Naruto laughed and started running around the cabin with his clone. It went up and poked Sasuke and the ribs,

"Naruto…"

It poked him again,

"Naruto!"

The other one came by and poked him,

"Stop!" when the other one ran by, Sasuke reached his leg out and swung at Naruto's head. Naruto flew back and hit one of the walls of the cabin, then, it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Wow Sasuke!" Sakura's eyes were shining, "That was amazing how did you do that?!"

"I…don't really know." Sasuke was surprised himself, "What is happening to us?" Sasuke was staring at the wall where the clone had disappeared.

"I…" Sakura looked at Naruto who was staring at Sasuke.

This day was getting weirder and weirder,

"Okay, I'm taking out my PSP and taking this off my mind! So, leave me be for at least an hour!" Sakura dug into her suitcase and dug out her PSP, then climbed to her top bunk.

"You have a PSP?!" cried Naruto running to Sakura's bunk, he was half way up the stairs when Sakura put her foot on his head,

"Back off Naruto, I want to play my PSP!"

"I don't have a PSP, come on Sakura just one peek!"

Sakura stopped,

"You don't have a PSP? Do you have any game stations?"

"Um…no." Naruto backed off and climbed back down the ladder. He turned away from her and laughed,

"I'm going to see why there's no noise outside!"

"What is wrong with the two of you!?"

Sakura and Naruto turned to Sasuke; the weird look on Sasuke's face was starting to scare her,

"Something's going on here?! Don't you feel it at all?!" The look on Sasuke's face was a mix between fear, and confusion,

"There's no use on getting all up tight about it Sasuke!" yelled Naruto, walking toward the bunk bed.

"You idiot you wouldn't even see danger if it came up and hit you in the face!"

"Shut up you stupid cowardly little pretty boy! You'd know all about danger since you run away from all your problems!"

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke launched off the bed and jumped on Naruto; Sakura dropped her PSP, then ran over and tried to pull them apart.

"Guys stop it! That's enough! STOP!!" As Sakura raised her voice, the room became more chaotic. Sasuke was trying to punch at Naruto and Naruto was trying to bite and scratch Sasuke.

That's when time seemed to stop.

You could hear the door opening, and a loud smack.

Kakashi was standing in the door way, the one eye you could see was opened wide and staring at the scene.

Sasuke's eyes were wide and looking at Sakura, as were Naruto's. Sakura was lying on the floor with a red mark on her right cheek. Tears were running down her cheeks, and her hand was slowly reaching up to her face. Her cheek was already starting to swell,

"S…Sakura I…" Sasuke's fist had been the one to connect to her face. Naruto was already kneeling down to help her up. Sasuke was stepping back and looking at Kakashi,

"I…I…I didn't mean to I…"

"I know, you didn't mean too. Sakura, put an ice pack on your cheek, Naruto, Sasuke, come outside with me."

Sakura got up with Naruto's help and she walked into the kitchen area. Naruto and Sasuke walked outside with Kakashi,

"You two know that you'll never pass with this attitude you have towards each other right?"

"Yes." Both said at the same time, they looked like guilty children that had just got their hands caught in the cookie jar. Only much more nervous,

"Pass what Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto confused,

"The camp exams, you'll need more teamwork to pass."

"You're going to let us compete?"

"Only if you adhere to my conditions and rules." Kakashi held up three fingers,

"One, you two cannot fight anymore, you've already seen the destruction it causes."

Sasuke and Naruto turned their heads to the ground, looking at the grass.

"Two, you do whatever I say."

"Why should we do what you say? What do we get if we win this exam?" asked Naruto looking up at Kakashi.

"Oh that…you win all of the awards of the camp, every single one." Kakashi grinned, knowing this would catch Naruto's attention,

"Are you serious?! No kidding?!"

"Yes, you will get every single award of the camp. All of the events in this exam will involve the badges you can win on your own. Though, that takes way longer, this way is short, but much harder. I will also show you some of the things you've been wondering about." The last part caught Sasuke's attention.

Sasuke and Naruto looked up at Kakashi with determined eyes, and Kakashi grinned,

"Good, so you both want to participate?"

"Yes." Both said once again.

"Good, now, we need to go back inside and…apologize."

"Oh…" said Sasuke avoiding eye contact again, Naruto was silent.

The three went back inside, but as they approached the door, Kakashi turned,

"Now you realize that if Sakura doesn't want to do the exams. None of you can participate."

"What, what do you mean Kakashi sensei?!"

"I mean if she doesn't want too, none of you get to."

"Sasuke, you'd better make your apology a good one!" yelled Naruto, Sasuke glared at him and strolled up to the door,

"You have to apologize too Naruto."

"What, why do I have to apologize?!"

"Because you were apart of the reason why Sakura was hit, you fought Sasuke and wouldn't stop when you knew someone was going to get hurt, you just didn't think it would be her."

"How do you know about the argu-"

"I have my ways, now go inside and apologize." Kakashi was serious this time, Sasuke had already gone inside.

"Here I go…" said Naruto quietly, as he walked through the door; he saw Sasuke standing in front of Sakura, his head low and Sakura was smiling at him,

"I forgive you Sasuke…" she was holding a bag of peas over her cheek, when she looked up and saw Naruto, Sakura averted her eyes away,

"Sakura…I'm…I'm a…sorry."

Kakashi elbowed him in the shoulder,

"For making Sasuke hit you, okay?! It was his fault anyway…" Sakura blinked, but sighed,

"I forgive you Naruto."

"So you'll take the camp exams!?" asked Naruto excitedly, his eyes were shining and he looked like he was about to launch off into space if she said yes. Sakura looked at Sasuke, then at Naruto, and lastly to Kakashi,

"Alright, I'll take the exams."

"Yes!!" yelled Naruto punching the air and running around in circles. Sasuke was looking at him like he was an idiot and Sakura was focusing on making the pain in her cheek go away,

"Alright everyone, get up bright and early tomorrow morning. We prepare for the exams tomorrow. But before we do, let's make a list of some things…" Kakashi took out a clip board, on the clip board was a pencil from the camp and a bright green sheet of paper,

"Alright, have any of you ever made a campfire?" Sasuke raised his hand, Sakura raised her hand, and Naruto put his hand up very slowly with a rather painful look on his face,

"Okay…have any of you ever made a make-shift tent?" Sasuke raised his hand, Sakura raised her hand, and Naruto once again painfully raised his hand,

"Naruto, have you ever correctly done those things?" Kakashi said raising his eyebrow,

Naruto stayed silent.

"Alright, do any of you know any type of martial arts?" Kakashi tried to be as cheerful as possible, Sasuke raised his hand quickly, Sakura slowly raised her hand, and Naruto's hand stayed down,

"You've never taken any type of martial arts Naruto?" asked Sakura a little shocked,

"No…I…never got the chance to." He said a little sadly.

"Can I continue please?" asked Kakashi a little irritated, "Okay, can any of you read a map?" Sakura raised her hand, both boys kept their hands down,

"Alright…we've got a long way to go…" Kakashi sighed and shook his head. Then turned around,

"All of you get some sleep; we start tomorrow, bright and early." Kakashi stepped out the door and the trio looked at each other,

"You should…keep that ice pack on for a while Sakura." Said Naruto, Sasuke had already gone to his bunk and kicked off his shoes.

Sakura nodded and walked into the bathroom with her suitcase. She showered, dressed, brushed her teeth, and brushed her hair. She made sure to brush her long hair for a little while longer. When she came out, Sakura was in her pajamas. She went over to Sasuke's bunk and set the suitcase at the foot of the bed. Then she climbed up the ladder to her bunk and settled into bed,

"Good night Naruto."

"Good night Sakura."

"Good night Sasuke."

"…"

"Night Sasuke!"

"…"

Sakura sighed, at least she had made a few jumps with Sasuke, and…maybe Naruto too.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!! Please submit reviews!! Please and thank you!**

**Thanks to-**

**xmarachanx**

**kerpal bubbles**

**Romance is Me**

**Nikki Mustang**

**Universal Fighter**

**Thank you all and please keep reviewing!**


	7. Chapter 7: Let the exams begin!

**Hey everyone! Thank you for supporting me and reviewing my chapters! You are much appreciated! **

**Note: I do not own Naruto!**

**Here we go! -Puts on helment and typing gloves- and we begin!**

* * *

**Chapter seven: Let the exams begin!**

Over the next few days, Kakashi trained all three of what he called, 'his failures'. That had been what Kakashi had been calling them since day one and he swore he would call them that until the end of their training.

Sakura was not enjoying this 'training' Kakashi put them through. His version of making a fire was going out into the woods and gathering a pile of wood in thirty seconds. Then, five seconds to make a fire. So far Sakura had broken five nails, was littered in bruises and scratches, and her feet hurt horribly. (She's such a winer!XD) This was only the beginning! Next week they had to make tents!!

"This is ridiculous; he can't really expect us to do this!" Sakura was talking to herself, because both boys were running like squirrels in a nut-gathering contest. This little competition had started the day after Sasuke had punched Sakura in the face. This was not long forgotten, though Sakura didn't bug Sasuke about it, Sasuke seemed to have something on his mind for the last few days. He and Naruto had been at the back of the cabin practicing the clone thing and Sasuke had been practicing something Kakashi called 'taijutsu'.

So far, he had given Sakura small exercises, like putting her fingers up in different positions and trying to focus something called 'chakra'. Sakura didn't get it at all, so far, she hadn't gotten anything from it. It was boring and unethical, not to mention crazy. There was no such thing as chakra! At least Sakura didn't think so, but judging by what Naruto could do, maybe it did exist.

Right now, it didn't matter, because at the moment they were supposed to be focusing on gathering wood for the fire tonight. If she didn't…lets just say that Kakashi's punishments were not in the least humane.

"Hurry up Sakura! We're gonna be late!" yelled Naruto running around picking up random twigs and logs he found on the ground. Sasuke said nothing, he ran around just as fast as Naruto did gathering logs and twigs.

"I'm coming Naruto! Chill out would you?!" Sakura sighed and gathered a few more pieces of wood then followed after the two squirrels.

When they reached the edge of the woods, Sakura saw Kakashi standing there with a pocket watch.

"5…4…3…2…" Sasuke and Naruto dropped their logs at Kakashi's feet and fell over on their butts breathing heavily from exhaustion,

"1." Kakashi looked up from his watch just in time to see Sakura drop her logs at his feet and fall over,

"Well, at least the two of you made it…Sakura…" His tone sounded malicious.

Sakura groaned, not again! This had been the fourth time Sakura had been late on getting the logs back to Kakashi for the fire. Now…It was time for her punishment,

"Sakura, I want you to run twenty laps around the entire camp, wearing…" This caught Sakura's attention.

"This jumpsuit I got from councilor Guy!" And there, Kakashi held the most horrible piece of clothing to ever hit the fashion line…

There, Kakashi held a dark green jumpsuit.

"No, please Kakashi-sensei! Not that, please anything but that!!"

"Sorry Sakura, this is your punishment. Now, off you go!" He seemed all too cheerful about her being in that jumpsuit.

_Psycho perverted evil, grey-haired, idiot councilor!_Sakura could think of more colorful words to say about Kakashi but she held her tongue and inner Sakura at bay. Well, for a moment that is,

"_**CHA HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME RUN AROUND THIS STUPID GREEN MONSTER!!**__"_Sakura had kept this comment in her mind, while she grudgingly dragged her feet toward the cabin to put on the green jumpsuit. She didn't dare question his judgment, thus Kakashi make up a more humiliating punishment.

When Sakura entered the cabin, she quickly changed into the green jumpsuit. Her face was turning redder and redder as she neared the cabin door.

_Alright Sakura, do this and get it over with_. Sakura took a deep breath and burst out the door of the cabin and took off in a full sprint. As she took off she could hear Naruto's burst of laughter, which made it all worse.

"**NARUTO, I'LL GET YOU WHEN I COME BACK YOU'D BETTER BE PREPARED FOR THE MOST PAINFUL BEATING OF YOUR LIFE!! CHA!!" **This time, her inner Sakura took over her speech and decided to dictate terms.

"**CHA, I'LL GET **THAT**STUPID NARUTO IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"**Sakura was not happy, and regular Sakura had decided to hide in a corner somewhere. She had had enough of this stupid, confusing, and painful stay in camp. She wanted to leave, she wanted to go home! Sakura kept running, using her inner Sakura for an energy box,

"Sakura!" Sakura turned around to see Rock Lee running behind her; he came up beside her,

"Sakura how lovely to see your youthful face, I love your jumpsuit what a vibrant green!" He suddenly stopped talking and gave a concerned expression,

"Sakura, what is wrong, why are you crying?" Inner Sakura finally backed down and let the actual Sakura back in front. Tears were running down her face,

"I'm fine just go away!" Sakura tried to run faster but Lee was much faster and more trained in his art,

"Sakura, you are not well, please stop and talk with me!" Sakura finally had to stop, the pain her legs and joints finally getting to her,

"I wanna go home!" Sakura yelled collapsing on a nearby bench, it was made of stone and having her butt hit it rather hard made everything worse,

"Are you homesick? Is that it?" asked Lee sitting down beside her,

"It's not only that Lee it's everything! The training, the punishments, and!" Sakura stopped short, she would not go there. Sakura knew what her problem was; she just didn't want to admit it to herself. The things that were happening, the flashes of images, those darned blue shoes!

"Calm down Sakura, I'm sure it will all be alright." He put a hand on her shoulder, and she stood up pulling her shoulder away,

"What do you know?! You're just a bowl-haired freak!" Sakura ran off leaving poor Lee speechless.

Sakura kept running and crying until she had probably ran more than thirty laps around the camp grounds, and she was still going. Sakura could barely even feel her feet or legs anymore; her vision was starting to fade,

"Sakura, you've got to stop."

_Who is that…I don't recognize…_

"Sakura…Sakura you have to stop!"

"Who…?" Sakura could barely even hear her own voice, but the voice was starting to bring her out of the fog.

"Sakura come on, it's time to go, you've ran around the camp thirty-five times now."

Sakura couldn't hear the persons voice, her vision was starting to fade even more. Her skin felt very cold…

"That's it, this has to end!" Suddenly, she felt something wrap its arm around her waist. Sakura tried to struggle against it, but the arm was too strong. She felt herself being pulled onto someone's back; it felt warm against her cold skin,

"You're such an idiot; I can't believe I'm even carrying you back." Sasuke muttered as he walked back to the cabin. Then something occurred to him,

"Sakura, I need you to walk. Can you move?"

"No…"

"You've got to move to slow down your heart." Sasuke slid Sakura off of his back and put her on her feet. She stumbled for a few seconds, then leaned completely on him,

"Come on Sakura, you have to walk."

"Can't…feel…my legs…"

Sasuke sighed,

"Here, lean on me and try to walk." Sasuke pulled Sakura's arm over his shoulder and started to walk forward.

_It's the least I can do… _Sasuke continued to walk forward, his dreams had become more complicated, no, not dreams, nightmares. Black, white, and red dreams that portrayed blood and violence, it had started after Sakura had been attacked,

_In these dreams, I do nothing but hurt her and Naruto…I don't understand any of this, but I'm going to figure it out, one way or another._

When they reached the cabin, Sasuke kicked the door until Naruto opened it,

"What happened to Sakura? Sasuke if you hurt her I sw-"

"I didn't hurt her you idiot, help me get her inside." Sasuke walked in with Sakura, her arm still over his shoulder. He walked her over to his bunk then sat her down,

"Sasuke, what happened to her?" Naruto was looking mostly at the lines of stress under her eyes and her pale skin,

"I found her jogging around the camp, she looked half dead." Sasuke put an arm behind her back and laid her down flat on the bunk. Naruto lifted her legs on the bed and took off her shoes,

"She's a mess; I've never seen her like this." Naruto said quietly.

"She's an idiot for running that far, I had to walk her back." Naruto turned to face Sasuke,

"Could you for just two seconds stop acting like a stuck up brat!?"

"Oh, I'm a stuck up brat!? What about you with your constant ADD attitude?! You act like you love Sakura but you just like her because you can't have her! So why don't you stop acting like a lovesick idiot and actually think for a change?!"

Naruto stopped, and then he gained his voice again,

"You're only saying that because you don't have anyone! You don't even have a family!!" Naruto stopped, he gone way too far. The look on Sasuke's face could have made a baby cry, his eyes were just empty, and the air in the room had gone way too thin for comfort,

"Look…Sasuke I…"

"No Naruto…" Sasuke looked at Sakura then back to him, "I…don't have a family…they…they were all killed."

"Sasuke…I'm…I'm sorry I…"

"You know…I always looked at you and Sakura…you both had someone to care about you. Sakura with her mom and you with Iruka-sensei…" Naruto felt awful, as Sasuke sat on the bottom bunk of Naruto's bunk bed, Naruto sat beside him,

"Look Sasuke, I don't know how you feel because…I've never had a family." Sasuke looked at him for a moment; his eyes still a little empty,

"Yeah…" Naruto looked at the floor, the light leaving his blue eyes for a moment. Then it came back,

"I was dropped on Iruka-sensei's door step one day as a baby. No one wanted me, nobody really cared but him. He's like a dad to me…" Sasuke now looked at Naruto in a different light, Sasuke had lost his family, and Naruto never had one. So why were they fighting? Sasuke started to look at things logically; they were only fighting because they were both hurting…both lonely…

"Dear Lord I've become Doctor Phil." Sighed Sasuke, if you really looked, you could see a small smile on Sasuke's face,

"What are you talking about Sasuke?"

"Nothing Naruto." Sasuke kicked off his shoes and laid down on Naruto's bottom bunk. Naruto blinked at him then shrugged, their fight completely forgotten about.

When Sakura opened her eyes, she didn't see the ceiling; she saw the boards periodically placed with bits of sheets sticking through each space…

_I'm on the bottom bunk! That means I'm in…_

Sakura sat up quickly and looked around, she saw Sasuke sleeping on Naruto's bottom bunk and Naruto sleeping on the top bunk. Their was light coming through the windows of the cabins windows, which probably meant it was dawn,

"I wonder who's awake right now…" Sakura started to stand, and then she felt a sharp pain go through her entire body. She squeaked and sat back down on the bed,

"Okay Sakura…you can do this…come on…" Sakura finally managed to lift herself off the bed and into the bathroom. She went into the shower with much effort, when she was finished with her shower, Sakura brushed her hair and teeth then realized something.

She didn't have her suitcase of clothes.

"No!!" Sakura cried out in absolute horror, she slid down against the wall. That would mean she would either have to wake them both up and have Naruto peep at her clothes and her. Or, she run out there really quick and grab her clothes without waking them,

_But I'm in a towel!! _

Sakura decided that she could run out there and quickly grab her clothes without waking them.

Sakura opened the door as quietly as she could without waking Sasuke or Naruto. She tip toed into the sleeping area of their cabin and had her hand on her bag when Sasuke rolled over. Sakura flinched, then noticed his eyes were closed, she breathed a sigh of relief and started to pick up her bag when Sasuke started to mumble something, and his eyes were starting to open,

_Oh no! He's waking up!_

_**RUN IDIOT! **_

Sakura picked up her bag and made a run for the bathroom as his eyes completely opened. She squealed and got her bag into the bathroom then slammed the door,

"I hope he didn't see me…" she muttered quietly, Sakura quickly dressed and started to brush her hair.

"Sasuke! Why's your nose bleeding?!" Naruto yelled, the entire cabin seemed to vibrate and Sakura went dead still.

_No… _

"Shut up Naruto!" She could hear punches and kicks being exchanged and two idiots wrestling in the sleeping area.

"_**THOSE TWO IDIOTS! DO THEY ALWAYS HAVE TO DO THIS?! I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!!"**_

Sakura stopped, since when did Sasuke fall into the idiot category…? Her thought was interrupted by the sound of the cabin door opening and Kakashi's sigh,

"Not again…" Sakura giggled hearing Kakashi's voice, she loved when those two made him miserable.

Seven days later, Kakashi had dubbed them ready for the camp exams. Kakashi was sitting in a chair in the cabin, talking them through on what the exams were going to be like,

"The first part of the exam is making a fire, pitching a tent, running a race through the forest, and the martial arts tournament. The making the fire and pitching the tent are just preliminaries, the race through the forest is the hard part." Kakashi laid a map out in front of the trio,

"This is a map of the forest; it is by the far the largest and the most treacherous forest in Konoha, so safety and being a team is the key to succeeding."

"But Kakashi-sensei, if it's that dangerous then why do they hold the race in the forest?" asked Sakura, Naruto was wondering the same thing.

"That forest used to be a rather safe place, but over the past two years, campers have come out of the forest with the strangest of injuries. Deep gashes, stab wounds, things like that." He sounded like it was the most normal thing on earth! What was wrong with this man?!

"Then why wouldn't they have the race somewhere else?!" yelled Sakura, her temper getting the best of her.

"Because, we now have camp councilors patrolling the forest during the race, it helps bring the injuries to a minimum. All you guys have to do is remember what I taught you, and you'll be fine."

Sakura gulped, what he had taught them was how to defend themselves against other kids their age! What if some insane man was out in that forest?! Three twelve year olds can't take on a full grown man! Or…maybe they could, when Sakura thought about it. Naruto could clone himself…

This reminded her…

"Kakashi-sensei…I was wondering…did you ever catch that man that attacked me?" Kakashi looked up from the map along with Sasuke and Naruto…well; Naruto wasn't paying that much attention to the map anyway.

Kakashi's eye narrowed and he looked away from Sakura, then he turned right back with a smile,

"Yes, we did catch him; he's far away from this place now." Sakura let out her held breath and smiled,

"Good." Sasuke turned sharply toward Kakashi with a questioning look and Kakashi looked down at the map again. Sasuke was confused but set it aside, maybe he had heard wrong…

"Alright, get ready, and stretch out. I'll be back in an hour to get you for the competition." Kakashi walked out of the cabin and closed the door. Leaving the trio in their thoughts,

"Alright everyone, stretch out and get ready! Believe it!"

"Believe it?" asked Sakura with her eye brow raised,

"Yeah, it just came to me! It sounds great!" Sasuke walked over to Naruto, grabbed him by the collar of his jumpsuit and growled out,

"Don't. Ever. Say. That. Again!" he then released Naruto and went to stretch. (YES! Thank you Sasuke!!)

Naruto blinked, he was rather confused on why Sasuke seemed to hate his new catch phrase,

"C'mon Sasuke! I like it! You like it don't you Sakura?" Naruto turned to her to see the very annoyed look on her face,

"No, it's annoying and loud and you don't need to say it!" Sakura hit Naruto over the head,

"Ow! Sakura, that's not fair!" Naruto whimpered, he sat down and started to stretch his legs while Sakura stood with her feet together and touched her toes. Then she sat down and did a butterfly stretch. She put her feet together and made a circle with her legs, then bent over flat keeping her feet down and her knees on the ground. After doing that a few times, she grabbed one ankle and stretched out her leg completely. She brought it back and stretched the other one. After she had done that three times on each leg, she stood up and stretched her legs the same way but standing one leg and balancing completely. When she did this on the other leg and then the other four times, she took a deep breath and let the pain flow out. Then she noticed something, Naruto and Sasuke were looking at her oddly,

"What? I used to be a dancer, that's how they stretched!" she turned away from them with a blush rising on her cheeks.

"You were in ballet?" asked Naruto curiously as Sakura turned to yell at him, she stopped. He actually seemed interested, looking at her with a look of curiosity. Sasuke was also watching out of the corner of his eye,

"Well…" her blush became larger, "yes I…I was in ballet when I was little…I still practice the stretches." She crossed her arms and sighed,

"We'd better stretch." Sakura went back to her stretching and the two boys went to theirs. An hour later, Kakashi knocked on the door,

"Come in!" yelled Naruto and Kakashi walked through the door. He took a chair and sat down casually,

"Are you all ready?"

Sakura nodded,

Sasuke nodded,

Naruto nodded,

A deep look seemed to cross Kakashi's face, something between sadness and remembrance. A deep sorrow the trio didn't know anything about,

"Alright, then step outside with me." Kakashi rose out of the chair and walked to the door,

"Follow me." Kakashi opened the door and stepped out, the trio followed behind him. Kakashi walked them to the edge of the forest, and then stopped as they saw all the other teams getting ready for the events. Stretching and getting pep talks from their councilors, though, none louder than Guy-sensei. Shouting about youth and strength, what was with that man? At least one of them was excited; Lee's eyes were sparkling while the other two shrunk back.

"Alright, the fire building competition is about to begin, just line up by the white line there." Kakashi pointed to a white line at the edge of the forest, away from the forest on the other side of the line, were pits where the teams could make their fires,

"Go on now." Kakashi walked away to the other councilors, they were gathered in the background while their campers were lining up to begin. Kakashi approached Asuma, an older man like him; Asuma was in a camp uniform like him,

"Hey Asuma." Waved Kakashi as he stood beside the other man,

"Kakashi, glad you could make it. How's your team?"

"Fine, just fine, and yours?"

"Just peachy, even though they keep arguing."

"Tell me about it." Kakashi groaned, and then she spotted a woman approaching. She had long black hair; her eyes were a rare red…

"Kurenai, good to see you, you were brand new last year. How have you been holding up this year?"

"I am well Kakashi, my team is as well before you ask." She sounded sincere but Kakashi could sense the sarcasm.

"So, how has the chase for Haruno's assailant going?"

"We haven't found trace of him yet, slippery snake." Asuma and Kurenai had been put in charge of tracking him down.

"No foot prints, no nothing." Muttered Kurenai, "What did you tell Haruno?"

"That we caught him; she doesn't need to worry about anything else at the moment. We won't fail this time, this time; we're going to be careful. This time, he won't get to any of them." Kakashi narrowed his eyes in anger.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto lined up at the white line. They looked at each other and then faced forward. Sakura had made sure to make her hair look extra shiny today. She would shine for Sasuke; she would show him what she could do!

A woman in a large tan jacket stepped up in front of the line. She had such light black hair that it seemed blue; her eyes were almost the same. She was tall with a black shirt and black pants with a tan skirt over it, and…

"WHAT IS WITH THOSE DANG SHOES!!" screamed Sakura, when she realized she had said it out loud, she squeaked and covered her mouth.

Oh no…

"You have a question Haruno?!" the woman yelled, looking straight at Sakura. Sakura felt a shiver go up her spine,

"No ma'am!" squeaked Sakura, bowing her head low in shame.

"Good! Now, let's get started, my name is Anko Mitarashi! I am your exam councilor! In a few minutes, the log gathering for your bonfires will begin momentarily. But unfortunately, I am responsible for announcing some ground rules,

Rule number one, you cannot harm any of the other campers, no fighting or you'll deal with me." Anko gave an evil look on her face to emphasize her point, Sakura gulped,

_She's got to be worse than Kakashi! _

"Rule number two, the forest is the limit! No going outside the forest! Our chunin ranked campers will be watching you so don't even think about it! Rule number three, you must be back in thirty minutes or you're disqualified! The winner is the one who makes their bonfire first! I will count down from ten, and then everyone will start!"

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto's muscles tensed as well as all of the other teams,

"Ready! Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…"

Shino opened a box,

Hinata narrowed her eyes,

Akamaru's head popped out of Kiba's jacket,

"Five…four…"

Ino pushed her ponytail back,

Choji breathed out like a bull,

Shikamaru yawned,

"Three…two!"

Neji narrowed his eyes,

TenTen crouched down to take off,

Lee did the same,

"One!"

All the teams shot off into the woods, along with team seven. Sakura ran through the bushes and branches. Looking for her first target, she saw a log on the ground, when she ran for it Sakura hit a big jacket with fluff,

"Too bad pinky, try again!" Kiba ran off again and Sakura dusted herself off,

_How rude, that jerk! _

"_**COME BACK AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE!"**_

Sakura continued on and grabbed logs on the ground; she also grabbed a few small twigs. When she had an arm full, Sakura raced back to the finish line.

That was when she saw something, it was so small, just a flash. But Sakura could have sworn she saw the image of a man in grey armor jump across the tree line. Sakura stopped for a second, then kept going,

_Kakashi-sensei said he caught him! Kakashi-sensei said they caught him!_

Sakura didn't know who she was trying to convince, she finally made it back to the finish line, to her surprise, Sakura was there before Naruto! Sasuke was there, breathing hard and putting the logs down,

"Sasuke!" yelled Sakura; she was excited that she had improved so much,

Sasuke's eyes flickered over at her then back to the pile; Sakura ran over and started to put her logs down,

"Hey guys, I'm here!" yelled Naruto running out of the forest; he had his arms full of wood.

"Good Naruto, set it down!" yelled Sakura helping him put it in the pile. As soon as they had the wood on the ground, Sasuke took out a match and lit the logs on fire, Sakura fanned the fire to life and Naruto was jumping around with excitement,

"Come on, come on, come on! Neji's team almost has his fire started!"

Sasuke heard this and glared; suddenly his hands flew up and made signs,

"Katon Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Sasuke made a ring with his fingers and he breathed fire through them, the logs instantly caught fire,

Sakura gasped,

"How did you…?" Sakura blinked and Sasuke was looking at his hands,

_How did I do that?_

"Team seven wins the fire building event!" yelled Anko raising her hand to end the competition.

The other teams looked at Sasuke's fire and sighed in defeat,

"Sasuke…did you do that on purpose?" asked Naruto,

"No…It just came to me…like Naruto's did." Sakura gulped, she grabbed her hair and started twisting it,

"N-n-naruto-kun?" a timid little voice came from behind them, Naruto turned and saw Hinata holding something out to him,

"T-t-this is m-m-m-medicine…y-y-y-you…c-c-cut your e-e-elbow."

Naruto looked down at his elbow and saw a deep cut in it,

"Huh…must have done that in the forest, thanks Hinata!" Naruto gladly took the medicine from Hinata, while doing that, he accidentally touched the tip of her finger. She squeaked and ran off, back to her group. Naruto scratched his head out of confusion,

"Man she's weird, oh well, the next competition is making tent, let's get ready guys!"

Sakura sighed,

_This is going to be a long day… _

* * *

**And that's chapter seven! Hope you like it! I will add more fluff with other characters in the next chapter! Please review for me!**

**Thanks to!**

**xmarachanx**

**Nikki Mustang**

**Universal Fighter**

**Dragonruler**

**lazy-cerulean**

**kerpal bubbles**

**Romance is Me**

**Thank you all vey much for your input! Please keep going!!**


	8. Chapter 8: Danger in the wood

**Hey guys! Yes so soon but I went on a tangent! Tee-hee! **

**Sakura: You idiot go to sleep!**

**Me: Shut up! I created you, I can destroy you!**

**Sakura: No you didn't.**

**Me:...I wrote you into this story I'll take you out!!**

**Sakura:-fake gasp- I'm sooo scared.**

**Me: Shut up.**

**Note: I do not own Naruto! Please enjoy the chapter! The danger heats up as they enter the forest of DEATH! BWA HAHAHAHAHAHA!!**

* * *

**Chapter eight: Danger in the wood**

After all of the kids were given a ten minute break after making their fires and doing the tent competition. Sakura was sitting at the side lines gulping down a bottle of water,

"C'mon Sakura give me a sip!"

"No way Naruto wait your turn!"

Sasuke merely rolled his eyes,

"Idiots…" he muttered, though, he had seen improvement with Sakura. She used to not be able to lift even one log, now she could carry an armful and ran faster with them.

_She's still a little know it all, then why…?_ Sasuke shook the thought out of his head as Naruto handed him the water bottle, he took it gratefully and gulped down the last of its contents.

Sakura turned to Anko; she was getting to speak again because she was taking a deep breath. Sakura covered her ears,

"EVERYONE LISTEN UP!" Once every camper's ear drums were officially broken, Anko continued,

"Up next is the race through the forest of death! Everyone get your bags and get to the starting line!"

Sakura grabbed her pink back pack and approached the starting line, Sasuke had his back pack, and so did Naruto. The two boys were on either side of Sakura and biting at the bit to go,

"Now listen up! The rules are that you must reach the finish line in three days! You have a map, a compass, and the supplies in your bags! You know how to make a fire, and how to make a tent! The race will lead to the martial arts part of the exams! Rules are mostly the same as the ones from the fire making competition,

Number one, no attacking other groups! This is only a race!

Rule number two, stay on your trail, if you do not we will let you wonder for a few hours and you will lose precious time!

Lastly, if one of you is hurt, you have whistle in your backpacks! Blow that whistle and one of us will be there to help you! Good luck and I hope you all make it out alive!" Anko gave a sickening look of entertainment at that last part. What, did she want us to die or something?!

"Well, here we go! I'm pumped!" yelled Naruto getting ready to go, Sasuke stood there, staring at the forest. Sakura looked at him oddly,

"Sasuke, is something wrong?" Sakura asked a little nervous, he simply narrowed his eyes at the forest; he turned his face away from Sakura and then turned back to her,

"Something is…familiar about this place. Something that's sending a shiver up my spine, don't you guys feel it?" Sakura felt it alright, and it was making her knees shake. Something was wrong here, like the back of her mind was screaming at her to turn around,

"I feel it too Sasuke, but we can't let those other teams win, especially not Neji's!" said Naruto with flames in his eyes. Sasuke's eye seemed to twitch at the sound of the Hyuuga's name,

"Well, well if it isn't Sakura!" Sakura would know that annoying winy voice anywhere,

"Hello Ino, so pleasant to see you." Sarcasm was dripping from Sakura's voice; an electric spark seemed to go between them,

"Nice to see you too billboard brow!" Sakura stiffened,

Oh no she didn't!

Oh my yes she did!

"Well guess what Ino! I have Sasuke on my team; all you have is a kid with an eating problem and a lazy idiot!"

Ouch, that hurt.

"But…I uh um-"Ino was at a loss for words, Shikamaru snuck up behind them,

"Come on Ino, we have to get our starting point or Anko will kill us." Shikamaru was as lazy as ever, but Ino sighed and gave in,

"Alright let's go! We'll show you in forest Sakura!" Ino walked away flipping her hair with Choji and Shikamaru,

"Man, what's her problem?" muttered Naruto looking bitterly at Ino's back, "Better yet, what's your problem Sakura? Why would you say that about Choji and Shikamaru?" Naruto never understood girls.

Poor sap never would.

"Because it's just what they are, that's why!" Sakura yelled and faced the forest, Sasuke looked at her bitterly, he was right she was just a little brat! Anko spoke up again,

"I'll count down from ten! Ten…"

Shino dug a hand into his jacket,

Hinata narrowed her eyes,

Kiba stuffed Akamaru into his jacket,

"Nine…eight…"

Ino made sure her hair was tied back correctly,

Choji narrowed his eyes at the forest, and sweating at the same time,

Shikamaru yawned,

"Seven…six…five…"

Neji narrowed his eyes,

TenTen leaned forward and was shaking from excitement,

Lee was getting ready to run,

"Four…three…two…"

Sasuke was sitting there stoically,

Sakura was growling at Naruto,

Naruto was shaking from excitement,

"One!"

She might as well as said, 'Release the hounds!' because as soon as that word was uttered from her mouth, every single one of the teams made a mad dash into the forest of death.

This did not include Sakura Haruno,

"Slow down guys!" she yelled, breathing heavily already because of all the other events.

Sasuke raced to the front, he wanted to get out of this forest as quickly as possible. It was sending shivers up his spine.

* * *

Kakashi was putting on a pair of gloves when someone knocked on team sevens cabin door. When Kakashi opened it, it was Asuma,

"Kakashi, there's been a change of plans. Scout master only wants chunins to monitor the forest of death."

"What?!" Kakashi had been informed that the Jounins were going to watch over the forest,

"Yeah, he said that it would be a good leaning experience for them…I don't see dad making that kind of decision."

"Asuma, who told you about the change in plans?"

"My dad did when I went to check on him, he seemed a little off though…I guess all we can do is sit and wait…" Kakashi wasn't paying any attention; he was already making his way out the door,

"Where are you going?"

"Killing a snake." Kakashi turned from Asuma and pulled up his bandana.

* * *

Sakura and the group had stopped for a moment to rest; Sakura was reading the map,

"Okay, it says that we're about fifteen miles from the martial arts arena. If we take a right here, we should be there in no time." Sakura took a look at the compass they had, getting the directions the needed to go next,

"I think we should take a good long break for now then go, or we'll wear ourselves out." Sakura rolled up the map and placed it in her back pack. Naruto was standing up and had his arms crossed,

"I don't get why we have to stop, I mean, I'm ready to do, aren't you Sasuke?" Sasuke nodded, his eyes kept scanning the area. Constantly searching, he felt something ominous watching them. Suddenly, something dropped on Sasuke's nose,

"Uh-oh! Guys we'd better pitch a tent quick!" Naruto was scrambling in his backpack,

"That won't do any good idiot! It will soak into the bottom of the tent, let's find a cave!" Sakura was looking around and then took out the map,

"It says there is a cave no far from here, let's go follow me!" Sakura turned and ran in the direction of the cave, Sasuke and Naruto following closely behind.

The rain kept getting worse, it starting sprinkling, then it turned into a complete down pour,

"Sakura how far is it?!" yelled Sasuke,

"It's just up this hill!" yelled Sakura, keeping her eyes on their current course. Naruto shivered, and caught up to Sasuke,

"Hey Sasuke…do you feel like we're being watched?"

"Yeah…and I hope we're wrong."

* * *

TenTen felt something land on her shoulder, when she looked at it she saw a wet spot,

"Neji, it's starting to rain, we need to find a place to stay." Neji nodded and looked at the map,

"The next cave is three miles away; we won't make it in time."

"I have an idea!" cried Lee and started to run off to the right, Neji and TenTen took off after him,

"Lee where are you going?!" yelled TenTen as the rain started to pour down harder on their heads. Neji then gasped when Lee reached a giant tree, this was no ordinary tree, its branches seemed to stretch out for miles and it was so tall it could have been a stairway to heaven,

"Lee this is amazing!" TenTen ran over to the tree and climbed onto a root, it was taller than two men put together! TenTen kicked her legs out and looked at Neji,

"How did you know this was here Lee?" asked Neji, he was looking at the tree and revealing in its gigantic glory,

"When I needed to use the restroom and I separated from you guys, I saw the branches of the tree and followed them here. I made sure to remember the way just incase."

"You're brilliant Lee!" yelled TenTen from her perch. Neji looked fondly at her then at the tree,

"There has to be a hole somewhere at the bottom of this tree." Neji closed his eyes for a few moments then a shock wave went through the area as he opened his eyes,

"Byakugan!" There were veins popping up by Neji's eyes, and it also seemed some small veins were in his eyes,

"Alright, let's find a spot…" Neji looked around the tree; he could see the land levels around the tree and into the roots of the tree. The roots were strong, but behind the tree, there was a hole in its trunk,

"There's a hole on the other side of the tree, in the trunk."

"That's great Neji! Let's go, it's starting to rain harder." TenTen slipped off the trunk, on her way down she hit her arm on a branch and was falling sideways,

"Ah!" TenTen closed her eyes and prepared herself for the instant pain of hitting the forest floor,

It didn't come.

"Are you alright TenTen?" Neji asked, TenTen realized that Neji had caught her and Lee was right beside him,

"I-I-I'm fine Neji, thank you." Her face turned red and she struggled from his grip, Neji set her down and the veins his eyes receded,

"Let's go, we need to get to a shelter before this gets any worse." Neji walked calmly around the tree while Lee and TenTen followed, TenTen hung back,

_He's so strange…but he's saved me so many times…thank you Neji…_

* * *

Ino walked at the front of the group, followed by Shikamaru, preceded by Choji. The trio had been walking for at least a few hours,

"C'mon Ino, I'm tired and I'm hungry!" Choji's belly seemed to have a bear living in it because it rumbled so loud both of his teammates could hear it,

"Alright fine, we'll stop, but you'd better hurry Choji!" Ino growled aggressively as Choji dug a bag of chips out of his back pack and sat down. Shikamaru sat down beside him,

"You're so troublesome…"

"Can't you think of anything new to say Shikamaru!? You're so boring when you talk like that!" Ino wined as Shikamaru yawned, as he was yawning, something fell into his mouth and Shikamaru flinched. When he looked up, he saw another drop fall on Ino's head,

"Ino, are there any caves around here?"

"No, why?"

"Because it's starting to rain."

"What?! No! We have to find somewhere to stay! Ahhhh!" Ino put her backpack over her head to try and stop the rain from getting to her hair,

"Give me the map Ino." Shikamaru took the map from her, he looked at it, and then looked up, then saw something that disturbed him,

"Ino, do you see that cave over there?"

"Yeah let's go! My hair is getting wet!"

"Ino, that cave isn't on the map!" It was too late; Ino had already gone and ran toward the cave, Shikamaru chasing her and Choji running with his bag.

* * *

"This way everyone!" yelled Kiba running through the forest, with Hinata and Shino behind her. They had been jogging for an hour now, Hinata had her Byakugan activated like Neji's, looking for traps,

"See anything Hinata?" asked Shino without looking at her,

"N-n-n-no…I don't s-s-see anything…" Then something caught her attention, she stopped and Akamaru barked, making Kiba stop. Shino looked down at her,

"What is it Hinata, what do you see?" asked Shino, then Hinata gasped and put her hands over her mouth,

"Hinata tell us what your seeing!" yelled Kiba, Shino looked at him and instantly silenced him,

"Go on Hinata." Said Shino,

"I-I-I-I s-s-saw Ino's g-g-group g-g-go into a-a-a c-cave a-and t-t-they v-v-vanished!"

"Are you sure Hinata? Is that what you saw?" asked a shocked Shino.

"Y-y-y-yes…" she was starting to step back, Hinata kept looking in the same direction…she was seeing something that was terrifying her,

"Hinata…what else is there?"

"E-e-e-eyes…s-s-snake e-e-eyes!" she whimpered, Kiba and Shino looked at the cave. Whatever happened, campers were now missing, and this was an emergency,

"I'm getting the whistle!" said Kiba digging into his back pack; he pulled out a bright red whistle. Shino nodded and Kiba blew into the whistle, hard.

…

"What's going on? They said the adults would be watching us? Why aren't they here?!"

"That means they're not here, which means something else is going on, something dangerous." Shino looked at the cave, then back at Kiba,

"Kiba, Hinata, blow your whistles; blow them as hard as you can." Shino was already digging his whistle out of his bag,

"Why Shino, you already said the adults weren't coming!" yelled Kiba, the nervousness was getting to him.

"If we can't alert an adult, we want to alert the other campers. Maybe one of them will hear and come help us." Shino took a deep breath and blew into his whistle.

* * *

When Sakura reached the cave, she heard something before she stepped inside. It was a whistle! Someone was in trouble, but an adult would take care of it,

"Stop guys, do you hear that?" said Sasuke stopping dead,

"An adult will take care of it Sasuke, I'm freezing we need to get inside!"

"Just listen!"

Sakura suddenly heard two other whistles blend with the first,

"Three whistles?" asked Naruto confused.

"Something's wrong…very wrong…we have to check it out." Sasuke turned around and started to walk in that direction, Sakura and Naruto looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged and followed.

* * *

Inside the cave, a man hissed and seemed to growl,

"Thosssse children…curse them!" said a rather scratchy voice, another smooth voice seemed to chuckle,

"Don't worry my Lord…we'll get them eventually…should I dispatch them?"

"Asssss long asssss they don't fail me thiss time!" the man scratched out and the other man called,

"Zaku, Dosu, Kin!" Three shadows appeared in the cave, Two had the silhouette of a man, and one of a woman,

"Go, take them all down."

"Very well." Said the female and they all three disappeared.

* * *

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto walked toward the whistles until they spotted Kiba, Shino, and Hinata, still blowing the whistles.

Shino was the first to stop and he signaled the others,

"Glad someone came; we've been doing this for ten minutes. Hinata saw something happen to Yamanaka's team"

"Ino?" gasped Sakura, wait, why did she care? She hated Ino…no…that wasn't true. She had never really hated Ino,

"What happened?" asked Sasuke, looking at Hinata,

"T-t-t-they w-w-went i-i-in t-t-that c-cave…" The poor girl was near tears, she was shaking in fear,

"Calm down Hinata, its okay." Shino tried to calm her but she just kept shaking. Naruto felt pity for her,

"Hey Hinata, it'll be okay, don't worry we'll find um!" said Naruto in a cheerful voice, Sakura looked at him like he was insane,

_He thinks I'm going in there?! I don't think so! _

"Hinata saw them go in, we were close enough to see inside the cave and they just vanished!" said Kiba, Akamaru was shivering in his shirt, this called Kiba's attention,

"What's wrong Akamaru? What are you so scared of?" asked Kiba, the puppy just continued to shake,

"Akamaru never does this, something's really wrong…"

"Alright, how about we all go in as a team and see if we can fish them out?" asked Sasuke, he was looking at the cave. Then, he gasped,

"I…its gone!"

* * *

Neji approached the hole in the tree with TenTen and Lee behind him, when he stopped dead,

"What's wrong Neji? Why'd you stop?" asked TenTen and Neji put up a hand to silence her,

"What is it Neji?" asked Lee, he looked at what Neji was looking at and saw something. It was barely noticeable, but you could see it under the leaves,

"Neji…is that?"

"Yes, it's a net-trap." Below the leaves on the ground in the hole of the tree, was a net waiting to ensnare whoever stepped on it,

"Who would put this here, maybe another team?"

"No, this is too intricate for some twelve year old to do, this is- Move!" Lee jumped away and Neji grabbed TenTen and pulled her to the ground. She screamed as logs went flying out of the air, they were tied to ropes, which meant someone had cut the ropes and…

_Tried to kill us!! _

"Neji…what happened?" said a very shaken TenTen, her heart was racing and all of the color had gone out of her face,

"Stand up TenTen!" Neji dragged her off the ground and began to run along with Lee. Logs kept swinging down from the trees trying to crush them,

"That net was just a distraction!" yelled Neji trying to keep TenTen running. One went for Lee and he jumped up to face it,

"No Lee! Run!" yelled TenTen, then she saw something amazing…

"Leaf whirlwind!" Lee spun around extending his leg and hit the log away from them, the log even cracked!

Neji stopped and TenTen nearly fell over, she gained her balance and looked as Lee kicked another one away,

"Okay…where did he learn to do that?" TenTen was totally lost; a human shouldn't be able to do that!

"TenTen, do you have those scrolls Guy sensei gave to you?"

"Yes…" TenTen said unsurely.

"Take them out."

* * *

"What do you mean it's gone?!" Yelled Kiba, when he turned he saw the cave have vanished, Hinata gasped and Shino started to sweat,

"S-s-Sasuke…where did the cave go?" asked Sakura, her eye was twitching and her mouth was gaping open,

"Hinata, can you look around the area?" Hinata nodded but looked at Naruto and his group,

"I think we all have been having these problems Hinata, just do it."

"Do what?" asked Naruto, and then he felt the shockwave as Hinata activated Byakugan,

"Wow, that's amazing Hinata!" yelled Naruto, forgetting all about the danger. Even though Naruto had yelled this she didn't stop focusing on the area, that's when she saw it,

"There's a hole where the cave entrance used to be…" murmured Hinata,

"Should we check it out?" Sasuke asked Shino, Shino nodded and the group carefully approached the hole. Sakura was not enthusiastic about approaching the cave; she was the last to approach the hole where all of them were looking in shock,

Sakura heard hissing…

"I-I-Is t-t-that w-w-what I-I-I-I t-t-think I-I-I-It is?" asked Sakura and Sasuke nodded. Something caught Sakura's attention out of the corner of her eye; something purple…She walked over to it and picked it up in total horror,

"Sasuke!" she screamed, the whole group came running, when Sasuke kneeled down beside Sakura, she was sobbing over a ripped up purple bag,

"I-I-I-I-It's Ino's bag!" cried Sakura hugging it to her chest, Naruto kneeled down beside her and started to rub her back. Then Kiba cried out in pain,

"What's wrong Kiba?" asked Shino, he was rubbing his neck,

"Someone just hit me in the neck with this!" Kiba held out a small needle, there was something dripping off the tip…

"It's poisoned! Kiba don't move! Whatever you do don't panic!" said Shino raising his voice slightly,

"Don't panic?! Are you freaking kidding me?!"

"He's right Kiba! My mom says that if you panic your heart beats faster and the poison spreads faster!" yelled Sakura and Kiba went still, Shino helped him lean on a tree and sat him down, Then Naruto flinched and Sakura turned to him,

"What's wrong Naruto?"

"I found this in the collar of my jacket; it stung me a little bit." Naruto held out an identical needle to Kiba's,

"Naruto…I need you to sit down…" said Sakura, she sat him by Kiba,

"Everyone cover your necks or any exposed skin if you can. Someone's trying to incapacitate all of us!" announced Sasuke, Hinata gasped and pulled up her jacket, Shino pulled his jacket up and stuck his hands in his pockets, To make things worse, Kiba was starting to get a fever, so was Naruto,

"Hang in there guys…" said Sakura, "Sasuke, get me the water bottle and rag." Sasuke went to dig into his back pack when he turned sharply and caught something in mid-air,

"What's wrong Sasuke?" Sakura gasped when he turned and his eyes were red, and in-between his fingers, was a needle similar to Naruto and Kiba's,

"Oh Dear Lord…" whimpered Sakura as he dropped the needle, his arm shaking,

"Well, well, well, seems you guys haven't changed much…" A young woman walked out from behind a tree, she had ankle length black hair that was tied into a very low pony tail at the back of her knees. Her top was a camo spaghetti strap shirt, her pants were also camo and to finish it off, she was wearing combat boots,

"I'll enjoy killing you Uchiha…" a younger boy stepped out from behind another tree; he had black spiky hair with almost the same outfit as the young woman. He had a tan shirt on with an odd looking Kanji on it. Around his neck he had a scarf, and his pants were, camo. He also had the same boots as the young woman,

Sasuke's eyes went wide, he didn't move for a least fifteen seconds then he snapped out of it, Sakura became very afraid when she saw the look on his face,

"Oh crap…" was all the young Uchiha could say.

* * *

**Love it? Hate it? Please tell me, things heat up even more in the next chapter-**

**"Memories of a broken summer"**

**Thanks to-**

**xmarachanx**

**Nikki Mustang**

**Universal Fighter**

**Dragonruler**

**lazy-cerulean**

**kerpal bubbles**

**Romance is Me**

**colourfulgirl**

**Thestarcrusader**

**Thanks so much!! Please keep reviewing!**


	9. Chapter 9: Memories of a broken summer

**Hey everyone! Chapter nine is up! The exciting story of the Naruto characters continue! Return of Orochimaru? Who knows, I do! But you'll have to read for yourself in this next exciting chapter!**

**Memories of a broken summer!**

**Sakura: Did you sleep last night?**

**Me: Maaaabye.**

**Sakura: You better have! You mess up in grammar when you don't get any sleep!**

**Me:...**

**Sakura: That's it! Kakashi sensei!**

**Me:-Flees- Nooooooooo!!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Memories of a broken summer**

Sakura's eyes wouldn't go off of the younger boy; he would look at her, then at Sasuke. A murderous look,

_He wants to kill us! He's already poisoned Naruto and Kiba! _

"Lets get this over with, I've got a manicure in an hour." Sighed the young woman, she had her hand out she was looking at her nails,

"You can go Kin, I want to satisfaction of killing these kids off for good…slowly…" All of them shivered at those last words, even Sasuke's body was shaking. Shino was taking a few steps back and then he kneeled down by Kiba and put a hand on his shoulder, then he put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and whispered something into his ear, and then he stood up by Sasuke,

"We have to hold them off…" Shino whispered to Sasuke, Sasuke nodded and turned to Sakura,

"Sakura…do you still have that old knife on you?"

Sakura nodded, and Sasuke held out his hand,

"Give it to me."

"Why, you're not going to…?"

"It's either them, or us Sakura, and I choose us." He bent over and took the knife from Sakura when she held it out in her shaking hand,

"Stay back Sakura, get Hinata and hide." Sakura nodded and went over to Hinata, but Hinata was staring at something, when Sakura looked toward where their two assailants were,

She saw only one, the young woman.

"Where'd he go?" gasped Sakura clinging to Hinata, and then she saw Sasuke jump to the left, the air where he had been standing seemed to explode and crack the ground,

"Come with me Hinata!" Sakura told her and she started to run into a bush when it exploded as well,

"Ah!" the wave of the explosion pushed her back along with Hinata but they both gained their footing, then another shock ran through her, when Sakura looked up she saw Sasuke on a tree branch,

"Wait…what…how did Sasuke get up there?!" Hinata screamed and pulled Sakura to the ground as large needles dug into the ground where they were just standing,

"Run!" cried Sakura grabbing Hinata's hand, she ran away from the group. She heard Shino shout something but Sakura didn't listen, she kept going, dragging Hinata behind her,

"Haruno-san, we need to get back to the group!" said Hinata trying to pull back but Sakura was in a panic,

"No, we have to get away from here!" Sakura heard Hinata shout behind her, she turned around to see a needle stuck in Hinata's shoulder. Sakura stopped and looked at the needle, it was thick and seemed to be made out of metal, which meant it probably wouldn't do much damage taking it out; Sakura grabbed the needle and yanked it out.

Hinata screamed bloody murder, the way Sakura yanked it out made blood spray all over Sakura's hand and a little spatter on her face,

"I-I-I-It's okay H-Hinata, I'll fix you-"Sakura gasped when she saw the blood stain was getting bigger on Hinata's jacket,

_Did it hit an artery? _Sakura's mind was racing at a thousand miles an hour; if the needle had punctured an artery then Hinata would bleed out in minutes!

"Like my senbon needles?" Sakura jerked her head in horror over to the young woman,

"You probably don't remember me…my name is Kin."

_Kin…? _Sakura remembered that name, but from-?

Suddenly images went flashing into her mind,

"_You think that will work on me little girl?" Kin had Sakura by the hair, only, she looked different, her top was more like a dress, but she still had the black shorts, it had a circle on the bottom of the skirt and on the back, this Sakura, had a knife in her hand. It was like the knife she had given Sasuke…_

"_Who said it was for you?" The look on Sakura's face was humorous, but deadly, as she reached up, and cut off a section of her hair to escape from Kin._

_The next one was of the man, she was fighting him, Sakura ran at him and threw shuriken at him, he put up his hands and blew them back at her, as soon as they hit her, Sakura's body was replaced with a log behind a puff of smoke, _

"_Where'd she go, above!" he looked in the air and Sakura was doing hand signs, he threw kunai at her, and she pulled her arms and legs in front of her. One dug into one of her arms and another into her leg,_

"_Now where's she gonna come fro-"something dripped on his face,_

"_What the-?"he saw her shadow getting darker on him until she was right on him, Sakura had a knife in her hand and she dug it into his arm and tackled him, then she went right down on him and bit into his hand, he punched her and punched her, but she wouldn't let go,_

"_Go off of me, get off!"_

Other images came with those, ones of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura doing things together, fighting, doing missions, the forest of death, and the chunin exams…

_Sasuke! _

Sasuke had been attacked by Orochimaru, bitten on the neck! No, he wasn't going to leave them! Not this time!

"What's wrong little girl!? Cat got your tongue?" Kin laughed and started to walk toward the two while walking she dug out her senbon needles, light gleamed off of each one,

"Time to end this…" Kin said in a low, malicious voice, "Your father was the only one standing in our way, and now you're the only one standing in Lord Orochimaru's way…"

"Why did my father have to die?" Sakura asked as quietly as possible, trying to sound feeble,

"Because, he was the first to remember…he tried to protect his pretty little wife and daughter, but as soon as I'm through with you and the other ones, Lord Orochimaru will be able to take over this place and the world soon, with the new worlds weapons, ninja's will become more high tech, guns, bombs, and sharper knives…It will all become the tools of a new age…"

"So you killed my father, because he tried to stop you?" Sakura looked up at Kin, with a sad, teary-eyed look,

"No, I killed you're father because he was starting to get an army against my lord…unfortunately, one of your fathers most trusted members escaped…the others…" Kin gave a malicious grin,

"I had the pleasure of disemboweling." Sakura's look suddenly went deadly, like a girl who knew what she was doing,

"I see…well…" Sakura stood up and pushed Hinata back behind her, then, Sakura stood straight up, and started to walk toward a very disturbed Kin,

"You know what Kin…I've dealt with nightmares and assassins…"

Kin started to step back, her face was scrunched up in horror,

"Jerks and my father's death, and frankly, I don't want to deal with you!" The last part Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs. Sakura still had her back pack, without even turning around, Sakura reached behind her and took the back pack off and unzipped it. She dug a little and found a switch blade that Kakashi had stuck into her bag. He had put one in all of their bags, telling them to 'use them wisely'.

Sakura grinned,

"Do you remember last time Kin? When you tried to kill the innocent little girl that was shaking and crying at your feet?" Sakura's smile showed invisible fangs of a battered wolf gnashing its teeth for revenge,

"No…you weren't supposed to remember! None of you were supposed to-"

"Well guess what Kin, I did and your one dead dog." Sakura pulled her long hair up in her hand so she had all of it, then she took the knife, and cut it,

"Kononchi Sakura Haruno is back."

* * *

TenTen was panting and holding a scroll in each hand, all kinds of weapons littered the ground, kunai knives, shuriken, scythes, swords, every kind of weapon you could think of, as TenTen slowly rose to full height, she took in the scene around her. The logs that had kept swinging at them were cut to pieces or smashed by Lee. Neji was standing to her left, he had his Byakugan activated, and Lee to her right, rubbing his fists,

"Neji…what did I…just do?"

"The twin dragon jutsu, it was your specialty."

"My…specialty?" asked TenTen looking around the field, the destruction she had caused was amazing…

"Neji, how can I do that? Why am I remembering all these things?! Neji answer me!" TenTen grabbed Neji by the collar of his jacket and shook him,

"You seem to know why! So tell me why!" yelled TenTen, Neji simply let his Byakugan fade and looked down at TenTen with no emotion,

"I don't know TenTen, I really don't. Now please let go of me." TenTen didn't let go, she was so confused she didn't really know what to do, so shaking and screaming at Neji sounded like a good idea to her,

"Then how did you know I could do that huh?! You'd better tell me or I'll!"

"You'll what TenTen?" He was daring her,

Her eyes started to fill with tears, some maniacs were trying to kill them, she was remembering things she shouldn't and he was messing with her?! She pulled back her fist but Lee caught her wrist,

"TenTen stop! You don't need to do this, we all need to calm down and think." Said Lee, keeping a gentle but firm grip on TenTen's wrist, TenTen finally broke down, tears followed down her eyes like small rivers and her arm went limp in Lee's hand, the hand on Neji's shirt loosened and Neji seemed shocked,

"TenTen…?" TenTen never broke down like this, never, no matter how bad it got. He was even more shocked when she hugged him,

"Oh Neji I'm so confused and scared! I'm sorry!" she sobbed into his shirt, Neji blinked and looked at Lee, Lee looked just as surprised as Neji did,

"It's alright TenTen, it'll be alright…" said Lee patting her on the back, Neji sighed and put an arm around her waist,

"Calm down TenTen, we'll make it out of here, I promise."

"Yes TenTen, so do not fret! We will make it out of here!"

TenTen looked up at Neji, her eyes still filled with tears,

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"I promise as well!" said Lee raising his arm, TenTen laughed a little,

"Let's go, we need to get out of here. TenTen, can you take a look at the map?"

"Sure…" TenTen took a deep breath and wiped away her tears, and then she dug into her backpack and pulled out the map and compass,

"If we go-"The sound of a whistle went through the air, someone was in trouble,

"Neji listen!"

"I hear it, we might want to see what the problem is, seems someone else is having just the same of problems as us." Neji turned in that direction when he saw something dash over their heads on the tree line, he tracked it with Byakugan for about three miles, then he lost it,

"What is it Neji?"

"I think I just found our attacker, let's get with the other group and get this settled out."

* * *

Sasuke didn't know how he was doing it, but he was. He remembered Zaku, oh yes he remembered Zaku, and how he had beaten Sakura almost to death! He had many colorful words for Zaku,

"C'mon Uchiha, lets see what you can do!" Things around Sasuke were exploding, but Sasuke knew better, it was air pressure coming out of the tubes in Zaku's hands. A part of his memory was blocked though; he knew that Sakura had told him that he had gone crazy and pulled Zaku's shoulders out of place, but how? Sasuke knew that at this age, he didn't have that kind of brute strength,

"Katon Gōkakyū no Jutsu!!" Sasuke aimed and fired, he grinned when he heard the screetch of pain come out of Zaku, then he ran up another trunk of a tree and went right for Zaku, He did the hand sign again, but this time, it was different,

"Fire style, Phonix flower jutsu!" small fire balls came out of Sasuke's mouth and flew at Zaku, two hit their target, Zaku cried out in pain while Sasuke went for close range combat. Zaku retreated to the tree tops, Sasuke followed,

"Come on up Uchiha! See how fun this can really be!" Sasuke frowned, what was he up to? As Sasuke reached the tree tops, he heard the sound of a gun shot, that was when his body jerked backwards as something grazed his right hip. Sasuke managed to gain his footing, then put his hand over his hip. When he looked down at his hand, there was blood on his hand,

_He shot me?!_ It haden't occurred to Sasuke that they would use modern day weapons!

"Like that Uchiha?! Back then we didn't have these weapons! This time I'll make you pay for ruining my arms!" He pulled up the gun again, and then he simply stopped. Zaku looked down at his foot and screamed, there were bugs crawling up his foot onto his leg, they kept going until they engulfed his entire body, Zaku fell over and below the tree line,

"One thing you must learn…you may have one metal weapon, but we have all of the elements in our favor." Shino rose from the tree line, adjusting his glasses,

"Thanks dude, he nearly had me there…" sighed Sasuke, he cringed when he tried to move his right leg, his hip hurt, bad,

"Come on Uchiha, we need to get you fixed up." Shino went below and Sasuke did the same,

"Wait a second…" Sasuke said to himself and put his hand on his stitched up shoulder, it was bleeding?

_It must have opened again!_ Sasuke cursed to himself then got to the ground, Naruto and Kiba were standing up and dusting themselves off,

_Naruto…Kiba…where are the other two?!_ Sasuke looked around in a panic, either Sakura found a really good hiding place or she freaked and ran,

"Sakura, Sakura?!" As soon as Sasuke's feet touched the ground, he starting searching the area,

"Sakura! Ack!" Sasuke tripped and fell over the pain in his hip was starting to burn. Since the adrenaline was wearing off, the pain was starting to hit Sasuke hard,

"Calm down Uchiha, you need to get fixed up first. Kiba and Naruto will search for them."

"I thought they?"

"They're fine; I cured them of the poison…while you were fighting that boy…"

_Shino leaned down and put a hand on Kiba's shoulder out of Shino's sleeves, beetles started to crawl onto Kiba's jacket. They went down to all of the Kiba's major veins, Kiba flinched in pain as they all bit down and started to suck out the poison._

_Shino then went to Naruto and put his hand on his shoulder then whispered,_

"_You're going to feel some pain, Kiba already knows, but these bugs are going to suck out the poison."_

"You cured them with…bugs?" asked Sasuke as Shino was putting a bandage over the wound in Sasuke's hip then his shoulder,

"Yes, my family specializes in all types of bugs. Some you can use to suck out poison or attack as you saw during the fight."

"We need to find Sakura, Naruto, can you find her?"

"Yup, come on Kiba-"Naruto stopped when he heard a whistle,

"You hear that?" asked Naruto,

"Yeah I hear it, let's go Naruto!" Kiba took off toward the direction of the whistle hoping they would find Sakura as well as Hinata alive.

* * *

Sakura charged toward Kin, pulling her arm back for a punch, Kin pulled up her arm and blocked, then slid her hand down to Sakura wrist and pushed her arm away. Sakura in turn pulled up her leg and kicked Kin in the torso. Kin flew back, but rolled backwards and then stood back up; she dug out her senbon needles and threw them at Sakura. Sakura dropped and rolled away, then popped back up just in time to block a punch for Kin, but she was too late to block the kick and then another punch to her face. Sakura in turn punched Kin in the face and then went to stab her in the ribs with the pocket knife. Kin twisted her torso so the knife wouldn't hit, then she twisted back again and kicked Sakura in the left hip. Sakura yelped in pain but kept her footing. She was momentarily stunned; Kin took her chance and punched Sakura in the face, then kicked her in the ribs. Sakura felt air fly out of her lungs; Sakura was winded, but gained her wind back in a matter of seconds. Sakura flipped backwards and then did a hand sign,

"You're doing that again?!" Kin laughed and dug something out of her belt; it was shiny, black, and felt like cold metal. (I'll give you three guesses.)

Sakura's eyes went wide, she turned and tried to run, but a crack went through the air and Sakura crumbled to the ground,

"See, I told you that wo-"Sakura's body was no longer there, there was a log in her place with a bullet embedded in it,

Kin cursed under her breath,

"You won't escape me! Ack!" Kin felt a sharp pain in her back; she turned her head to see Sakura with her pocket knife in her back,

"I see you can't do any jutsu can you? You gave that up so you could use weapons like guns, bad choice Kin."

Kin felt blood seeping out of her mouth, and then her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She ceased to breath,

"Sakura…" gasped Hinata, there was now a pool of blood around poor Hinata. Sakura raced over and checked her pulse, it was very low,

"Hinata! Hinata hang in there!" Sakura ran over to one of the trees and tore off a branch, and then she ran over to Hinata, Sakura tore off a piece of her skirt and tied it around the branch. Then, she lit it on fire with a match from her backpack,

"Alright Hinata, this is going to hurt…" She took off Hinata's jacket then pulled Hinata's shoulder out of her shirt. Sakura observed the wound, it was small, but blood was still flowing out of it,

_So it was an artery!_ Sakura cringed then put the burning wood over Hinata's shoulder,

Sakura should have worn ear plugs first.

Hinata screamed in horrible burning pain as Sakura seared the wound shut, stopping the bleeding. Sakura wiped the sweat off her brow then dug the whistle out of her back pack, she held the torch in one hand, and the whistle in the other, and then she blew the whistle.

* * *

Neji made sure to lead them in the exact direction of the whistle that was when he heard something pass over head, he stopped and looked up,

"Neji that's the fifth time, what's going on?" asked TenTen rather irritated,

"I honestly don't know, but it seems that thing wants to get there before we do." Neji ran again, signaling TenTen and Lee to follow.

* * *

Kiba finally spotted Sakura and Hinata, Sakura was holding something in her hand…

_A torch?!_ Kiba ran faster with Naruto right behind him, Shino and Sasuke were going at a slow pace, making sure to keep Sasuke from opening his wounds,

"Hinata!" cried Kiba, spotting his teammate on the ground,

"Sakura!" yelled Naruto, seeing his teammate in that condition,

Sakura looked up and saw them both approaching, she smiled as she spotted Naruto, then she yelled,

"Where's Sasuke?!"

"He's with Shino, they're on their way here!" said Kiba kneeling next to Hinata,

"Hinata?! Hinata?! What's wrong with her? Why is there a pool of blood here!?" Kiba was panicking, he also saw her shoulder was burned,

"Kin hit her in the shoulder with senbon needle. It must have hit an artery…" Sakura finally felt the adrenaline wear off, and weariness hit her, the arm holding the torch dropped and her back bent,

"Sakura are you okay?" asked Naruto, and then he looked at Hinata. Something hit his heart hard when he saw her that way,

"Kiba? Is she okay?" Naruto set Sakura against a tree and walked over to Hinata, her eyes were closed but you could still see tears running down her face, he saw the torch on the ground and stomped it out,

"I don't know, Sakura sealed her wound shut but…" her face was so pale and she seemed so fragile,

"Sakura!" yelled Sasuke, he ran over to her and kneeled down in front of her,

"Are you okay? What happened?" Sakura opened her eyes and saw him,

"Sasuke…you're alright, did he…get you?"

"No, Zaku didn't get me, he's dead."

"No…not him…Orochimaru." Sasuke gasped then images flashed into his mind, of a man with a white face and purple face make up, long hair and…looked kind of like Michael Jackson…

Sasuke shivered, he remembered Orochimaru…

_The curse mark! _Sasuke put a hand on his shoulder then saw it wasn't there, and then he remembered, he remembered everything, including that night…

"_After all this time, you're still annoying." _

_Sakura gasped,_

"_Please don't go! If you go I'll scream and-"Sasuke disappeared, but she felt his presence behind her,_

"_Sakura…thank you." Sakura gasped, then felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck, _

"_Sasuke…kun…" Sasuke caught her around the waist, then placed her on the bench,_

"_Good bye Sakura…" he turned and walked away._

"Sakura…" Sasuke began but was cut off by clapping hands,

"Well, well, good job Sssakura, you've beaten the sssound threee.." A man walked out of the forest, he was tall with extremely pale skin, purple make up, and with big, yellow, snake eyes,

Sakura saw him and at the same time Kiba, Naruto, and Sasuke did, they were all thinking and remembering one thing,

"Orochimaru."

* * *

**So how did you like it?! Please comment and tell me your opinion! You'll see all the answers in my next chapter!**

**Sasuke's family, Sakura's nightmare!**


	10. Chapter 10: Sasuke's family, Sakura's N

**Hey guys! Sorry I havn't updated in a while, geeze life gets to ya huh? Tee-hee well, here's a new chapter, enjoy it and prepare for battle with our next Epic Chapter!!**

**Sakura: Epic Chapter? Is that what you're calling them now?**

**Me: Shut up! It was all I could come up with!**

**Sasuke: Un-original**

**Me:-Holds up earser- Anything else Uchiha? .**

**Sasuke: O_O**

**Anyway, Enjoy!**

**Chapter 10**

Sasuke's family, Sakura's nightmare

**xoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXox**

"Orochimaru." Kiba's voice rose barely above a small stutter; his chocolate brown eyes were wide in horror. Akamaru wined as he tried to hide deeper in Kiba's jacket. If anyone was paying any attention to the canine ninja, his eyes were twitching ever so slightly with fear.

This was nothing compared to Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto's faces. They all recognized him; they all knew who he was and what he had done. Sasuke stood up straight, making sure to block Sakura with his body. As soon as Orochimaru had stopped speaking, the whole area had become dead silent. Sakura was perfectly still, emerald pools stared into Orochimaru's glowing yellow orbs.

Sasuke began to step forward, only to be tugged back by a hand grasping the bottom of his shorts.

"Don't go, please don't go Sasuke-kun." Yes, that had been what she had referred to him as so long ago. When they were children as they were now, and Sasuke stared down at her as if he had already made up his mind.

"I have to Sakura..Naruto." Sasuke jerked his head up to Naruto who was already on his feet and facing Orochimaru.

"Yeah." Was all Naruto could say, the blonde already knew how this might end. He knew how it had ended last time. Would it be the same result? Or would they learn from the past?

Orochimaru began to chuckle and all eyes were on him once again.

"You think you can ssstop me?" He hissed, his arms were crossed around his middle. As if they were not even worth his time.

"I'll help you guys." Kiba stood up and stepped in front of Hinata. He was still afraid, but Kiba seemed determined to overcome it.

_We didn't all face him that time. It was only Naruto and Sasuke. This time, we're gonna destroy this guy and send him back to the pit that he crawled out of._

"You ready Shino?" The insect ninja stood beside Kiba, you couldn't see his eyes, but everyone was sure they were fixed on the same target as everyone else. Shino looked back at Sakura very slowly then froze as his lips moved from behind the blue jacket that covered half of his face.

"Watch over Hinata for us."

Sakura could only nod as the boys faced Orochimaru, each of them slowly prepared for battle.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment; something inside of him knew what to do. What places to push his chakra, and what hand signs to make. It all replayed through his mind like an old movie film strip. When he opened his eyes again, his eyes were blood red with one black inky dot around a ring in his eye.

_Sharingan, my family's technique._

Sasuke felt it in his eyes, the swirling and the odd sensation of it being activated. But everything seemed different, as if the whole forest was under some kind of microscope. He could see everything, a butterfly fluttered past, instead of barely seeing it's wings, Sasuke could see the butterfly flying past so slowly he could make out the design on the wings.

"Very good Ssssasuke, you've remembered how to usssse the sssharingan." He didn't seem afraid, in fact, Orochimaru seemed rather pleased. A light smile decorated his face, his eyes were wide and clear. He was so close to achieving his goal. There was Sasuke, right there for the taking and this time no pesky Kakashi would be around to stop him. He couldn't protect the boy forever…

"Akamaru, come on boy." Orochimaru turned in distaste to the canine ninja. He could be a problem, and that dog would only make matters worse.

"The famoussss Inuzuka, and your infamous dog clone jutsu." He knew about all of their clans and their specialties. Nothing they did would come as a surprise to him.

"Let's go Akamaru, I know you're scared but we have to face him. We'll do it together boy, come on out." Kiba finally coaxed his young puppy out of his jacket. The dog gulped but climbed onto of Kiba's head in a clumsy fashion. Kiba smirked up at his canine companion, he was ready to go.

Shino did absolutely nothing to prepare, he stood there, looking at Orochimaru from behind the dark sunglasses. Analyzing everything on the snake man's body, trying to search for any movement at all in the still forest.

Then, all at once, it began.

"HAaaaa!" Naruto charged forward first, putting up his hands for his first jutsu.

"Kage Bushin no jutsu!" Several clouds of smoke appeared around Naruto, fifteen to be exact. They all came at Orochimaru from different directions. All of them were bare handed and ready to fight with hand to hand combat.

Orochimaru stood perfectly still, while his long snake tongue shot out of his mouth. A sword at the end slashed through ten of the clones that had been close enough to be cut. The other five still went at him, and the original Naruto put his hands together and cried once again.

"Kage Bushin no jutsu!" Ten more clones appeared and stockpiled after Orochimaru.

Before any of the Narutos could touch a hair on Orochimaru's round head, all of the clones disappeared in clouds of smoke as a wave passed over Orochimaru. The wave was barely visible, but Sasuke searched for the source, sharingan making it easier to see the slow moving wave's source.

"There!" Sasuke took off towards the sounds origin, and before he could reach the bush he was aiming for, a large figure jumped from the bushes.

"Just as I thought, I knew we were missing one." Sasuke spat out as Dozu, the last of the sound three landed on the ground with a thud.

"Lord Orochimaru, I'll handle the extra's you can have Sasuke and Naruto." Kiba and Shino twitched, knowing that the man was talking to the two of them.

"You ready Shino? Let's show this jerk what we can do!" Kiba took off, kicking up dust behind him. He knew what to do and started making hand signs.

"Man beast clone!" Akamaru stood up on Kiba's back and his fur started to stand on end. The dog growled and barked once before turning into smoke and when the smoke cleared, there stood another Kiba. Akamaru jumped off of Kiba's back and they nodded at each other.

"Man beast ultimate taijutsu!" Kiba charged his body and feet full of chakra as he felt his body jerk and twist as if inside a tornado. Akamaru's did the same as they separated and then turned toward each other with a common goal in front of them.

Dozu was no fool, he clenched the muscles in his legs and jumped to his right to avoid them. At the same time, Dozu swung his arm as hard as he could. It creature a giant sound wave that both Kiba and Akamaru could hear, inside the tornado Kiba cried out in pain as his ears were punctured with the awful sound. Akamaru whined and howled during the spinning, but he kept going.

Both kept spinning and dove into the ground with force of a giant drill bit.

During this, Shino had been gathering insects from around the forest. Ants gathered around his feet and also around Dozu's feet. They crawled up his pant legs, unable to access his skin since his pants were tucked into his boots. Dozu stared down at them in horror, if the sound ninja had not been afraid before. He most certainly felt that fear now as ants passed his torso and started heading for his face.

Next, Shino opened his hands and waited for a moment, before buzzing sounds could be heard around them. Sasuke stared in amazement as hornets, bees, and other stinger type creatures gathered around Shino's arms. The amazing part was that Shino was completely calm as they swirled dangerously around his hands. Unafraid at all of being stung, he had a plan set back for these babies. He was predicting Dozu's behavior and just like Shino predicted, Dozu used his armored covered hand to try and shake the ants off of him. The holes in the armor sent sound waves flying everywhere, Sakura tried to cover her ears while clenching her teeth in pain.

You couldn't see it, but under the coat, Shino was smiling as all the bees and hornets flew away from him and headed straight for Dozu.

* * *

Orochimaru was busy fending off both Sasuke and Naruto. Several of Naruto's clones were attacking him from different directions, but Orochimaru didn't seem to mind. The snake ninja's skin was hardly breaking a sweat.

Though he did grunt and cartwheel away from Naruto as a fireball rushed past him and slammed into a tree beside him. The next instant Sasuke was on him, throwing several punches and kicks. Carefully dodging Orochimaru's returning punching and kicking with his crimson eyes studying him carefully, his black hair flying everywhere as he jumped high above Orochimaru and making hand signs at the same time.

In the millisecond, three Naruto clones went for Orochimaru's midsection and three more for his face.

That was when Naruto completely surprised Orochimaru. When Orochimaru looked into the twelve year olds eyes, he saw the rage of a thousand fears and failures.

_"Nice to see you again little brat" You could hear the sloshing of water being pushed away forcefully by hurried legs. A loud chuckle bounced off of the walls of the large room. It sent ripples through the green seemingly glowing water._

_Naruto walked up to the giant cage before his eyes. His determination apparent on his face, then he began to shout._

_"Well! You inhabit my body, so time to pay rent you stupid fox! Give me your power!"_

_The giant pair of eyes behind the cage chuckled and a giant mouth opened up and roared, the sound was loud enough to blast Naruto backwards, and demon chakra soon began to build up in Naruto's veins._

_"FAREWELL LITTLE BRAT, UNTIL NEXT TIME!"_

Naruto's eyes were blood red; his pupil seemed to have been cut into a perfect long diamond. The whiskers on his cheeks more prominent and his hair seemed to be freaking out.

"OROCHIMARUUUUU!!" Naruto roared at the astounded Orochimaru as he used clawed hands to try and scratch the man's face off.

Then, Orochimaru rolled away as a fireball rushed past him only to be barraged by smaller fireballs. Two hit their target, his shoulder and one on the back of Orochimaru's knee.

Orochimaru began to gain his footing while chuckling.

"Seems you both remember me, good, then you will remember the end result of his battle." Naruto made more demon clones to attack Orochimaru. These were faster, stronger, better, and they all rained down on Orochimaru.

Orochimaru raised his arm to where you could see down his dark sleeve. Three snakes twisted together rushed out of his sleeve and tore into five clones, they then twisted and swirled all around Orochimaru to block any attack by Naruto.

Sasuke growled, nothing they were doing was working!

"Because he knows our moves…" His eyes glanced to Shino and Kiba, he could see Shino, but Kiba and his pet were out of sight.

"Hurry up." Sasuke received his answer when he heard Dozu scream.

* * *

Dozu felt the stinging sensations all over his face and up his sleeves. Hornets attacked with furious anger and the bees left their stingers inside Dozu's skin. Shino flinched as the bees started dropping, giving up their lives so easily. He felt sorry for the poor insects that he was using.

Finally, Dozu fell to the ground with a bone shattering thud. Shino called the hornets and left over bees to him.

_Now for the next target._

Sasuke felt a foot hit his face so hard his jaw popped out of place. He flew until his back hit a tree, when he slid down against it, Sasuke vaguely noticed a liquid running down his shoulder. Sasuke knew what it was, his shoulder wound was open, and he felt his hip bleeding once again. He couldn't take much more of this.

Naruto caught Sasuke flying back, and growled in rage at Orochimaru. Fangs inside Naruto's mouth extended further and saliva spattered on Orochimaru's face. The snake man was once again taken aback by Naruto's power. How the youngster could have remembered so soon?!

"TAKE THIS!!" One was just too fast to dodge, Naruto's fist connected with Orochimaru's chin and sent him into the air.

A rumbling was heard from the ground and suddenly, two tornados sprang from the ground.

"**FANG OVER FANG**!" Kiba and Akamaru finally appeared from below the ground and flew into the air after Orochimaru. They both drilled right into the snake man's back, Orochimaru had not expected their attack. He wasn't prepared for them!

Finally, Kiba stopped spinning as well as Kiba's clone. Smoke swirled around Akamaru and he returned to his normal dog form.

While falling, Kiba had the piece of armor from Dozu's arm and threw it into the air next to Orochimaru. Making the sound waves come from Orochimaru's body instead of his.

"NOW SHINO!!"

Shino released the bees and hornets, they went straight for Orochimaru. All of them digging their stingers into Orochimaru's skin.

Then, to everyone's dismay, Orochimaru's body was circled by smoke and all that was left for the bees and hornets to sting was a thick log with moss on one side.

Sakura stared in horror as Orochimaru disappeared; Sasuke frantically looked around the area. Trying to see even the slightest of movements in any of the brush or in any of the trees.

"Man! We almost had him!"

"We never did." Sasuke growled furiously as he finally found Orochimaru standing on a far off branch. His arms crossed over his torso, no marks on his body from the fighting done earlier.

"A wonderful performancccce all of you, I congratulate you, but not enoughhhh." He started to chuckle and eventually started laughing with an insane look in his eyes.

Sakura glared up at Orochimaru, and he took notice.

"What Ssssakura? Ssstill sssore about father? Can't we just leave thingss in the passst?" He chuckled as Sakura clenched her hands hard enough for them to turn pale and white.

"Why did you kill him!? Why?!"

"Weren't you listening to Kin before? Your father was the first to remember his past life…life in the other place, the other realm. He tried to warn all of the Jounin like Kakashi Hatake and the others. He even tried to warn the Uchiha's but Fugaku refused to listen to him. What a fool…"

Sasuke heard his father's name and glared.

"What do you mean Orochimaru?"

"You don't know little Sasuke?" Orochimaru said, as if having a pleasant conversation. It was dainty and light, smiling actually so pleasantly that it made Sakura sick.

"He tried to warn him about me, and your brother…" Sasuke let the surprise show on his face. Orochimaru seemed satisfied with Sasuke's reaction and chuckled.

"Yes, Sakura's father knew about Itachi's attack on his own family. Unfortunately, Haiku got to Itachi in time to stop him. But that didn't stop me…"

"You! You killed them!" Sasuke yelled, flinching from the pain in his shoulder. The rage gave him power, enough to stand up and face his parents and relatives murder.

"They were weak, they thought they were just normal people. It was sssso easssy." The snake man hissed, and Sasuke felt a rumble rise in his throat.

"I'LL KILL YOU YOU MONSTER!!" Sasuke ran forward with Kiba, Shino, and Akamaru behind him. Naruto bringing up the rear as they were about to continue their battle.

"EVERYONE DUCK!!"

Anko's voice rang clear as day and several snakes rained down from above and took Orochimaru by surprise. The snake man jumped away only to run into thin wires that Sasuke had used to tie him to the tree trunk behind him.

"BURN YOU SCUM!!" Sasuke blew fire over the wire, it immediately caught fire and raced toward it's target.

Anko suddenly jumped over the kids and raced towards the tree trunk, facing an astounded Orochimaru.

"I thought they killed you!" He cried before being engulphed in flames. Anko quickly shifted her arm and kunai combined with shuriken flew at the spot on the tree.

Down below, Sakura jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned quickly to see Kakashi, he was studying her face and the rest of her.

"You don't look too bad, brings back memories…" He smiled under the mask and Sakura hugged her sensei around the neck.

"Kakashi-sensei!! I'm so glad to see you!" Tears finally slipped from her eyes, knowing she was finally safe with her teacher.

Kakashi held the child to him; Sakura was back, the real Sakura. Her mother would be thrilled.

"Your father would be so proud of you Sakura." He smiled at her and then turned to Hinata.

Kurenai was tending to her fallen student. She seemed rather satisfied with the work Sakura had done.

"I need to get her to a medical station. She needs a blood transfusion and to have her wound properly cleaned."

The next to appear was Asuma, he searched frantically for his students.

"Where are Ino, Shikamaru, and Choiji?!"

Sakura flinched in pain as she remembered the torn up purple back pack. She turned her head to look at Asuma.

"Asuma-sensei…We lost them…They just disappeared.."

Asuma's face twisted into confusion and then anger, and Sakura saw him turn around to try and hide it.

It was silent down below, Asuma clentched his fist, which oddly, was holding and type of weapon like brace knuckles with blades on the sides.

"Where did you see them last?" He asked, at least he was a little calmer than before.

"Over there about a mile back." Sakura pointed with a weak raised arm and Asuma took off.

Sakura looked up to see a very frustrated Anko, Sasuke falling over and Naruto back to normal and catching Sasuke.

What had happened?

**----------------------------------------------------**

* * *

**All done!! Thanks for reading, please please please please review!!**

**"Sakura! Why don't you introduce our next chapter!"**

**"HAI!" Balls fist and hits brick wall, bricks fall away, revealing the kanji for the next chapter.**

**~"PAST REVEALED! OROCHIMARU WRONG?"~**

**"Tee-hee, see you soon!"**


End file.
